A Change of Seasons
by bananaman48
Summary: An all human AU set in a boarding school just five miles outside of the quaint town of East Summers. Where familiar faces come together and friendship, rivalry, jealousy, and a 50s style diner ensures that the next two years are far from relaxing. A high school story (hopefully) with a difference. (all of the seven feature but only lets me add 4 characters *sigh*)
1. Pilot

_Thursday, 20th August 2009_

When Percy woke up his head was pounding. He wished he could blame it on alcohol or staying up all night or something remotely less embarrassing than hitting his head on the corner of a booth after trying out roller skates for the first time. They hadn't been his idea, but Piper could be very convincing when she wanted to be. Besides, they were an official part of their work uniform at the diner. Percy, Leo and Piper had started working there when he was thirteen and yesterday was the first time he even went near the things. He preferred his transport to have four wheels and a board.

Percy eventually rolled out of bed, stepped over the accumulated coffee cups, plates, knives, forks and glasses on the floor, and picked up a clean looking shirt from the back of his desk chair to pull on. The t-shirt had a mysterious stain on the front but he chose to ignore that detail as he left his room in said shirt and pyjama bottoms.

'It's about time, sleepyhead.' The warm, smiling voice of his mother greeted Percy as he walked into their small kitchen.

'It's a Sunday,' he muttered.

'It's twelve o'clock, is what it is! I was about to send Piper in to get you.'

It was only then that Percy noticed the other person in the room. His best friend sat at the counter dividing the kitchen from the living room, looking bright and cheery as per usual.

She grinned at him over her pancakes. 'I wouldn't have done it for what it's worth. I've seen your bedroom and have no intention of returning there any time soon.'

'What are you doing here?' Was his response as he rubbed a hand through his hair, leaving it even more haphazard.

Piper feigned innocence. She was very good at feigning innocence, but Percy knew her too well to believe it. 'What? I can't come and see my best friend without being interrogated?'

'And my mom's cooking didn't have anything to do with that?'

'Speaking of,' his mother interrupted as Piper stuck her tongue out at him, 'sit down, yours are nearly ready.'

Percy did as he was told and took the stool next to Piper's, leaning over to pick at a bit of her pancakes with his fingers. She slapped his arm and grinned when he pulled a face after stuffing the food in his mouth.

'Ugh, I forgot you have maple syrup,' he muttered, picking his teeth out dramatically, 'weirdo.'

'And banana,' Piper informed him, eating a forkful and batting her eyelashes at him. 'I like to be healthy,' she said with her mouth full.

It was true; Piper was all for smoothies with ten different fruits in them and always insisted on organic food produce, but Percy had seen her chow down a few too many tofu burgers to ever believe that she was a lady. She had never acted like her family's wealth would suggest. Her father was an actor, an A-lister. Tristan McLean, to be exact. He loved her, but unfortunately wasn't around all that often to remind her of that. Since Piper's mom split when she was barely six months old, Piper was basically brought up by Sally and Esperanza - Leo, their other best friend's mother - who both used to work in the McLean household.

All of this meant that Piper, Percy and Leo essentially grew up together; and having two male best friends rubbed off on Piper McLean. She was still beautiful. Even having a brother-like status, Percy could see that; and the way the guys at the skate park and the customers at the diner looked at her told him he wasn't the only one to see it.

A plate of pancakes topped with butter appeared before him and he threw his mother a smile before scooping the first mouthful in.

'So what are we doing today?' Piper asked when she finished her breakfast, propping her feet up on Percy's stool.

Percy shrugged. 'I was planning on sleeping.'

'Percy,' she whined, 'we have two weeks left of summer.'

'Hence the sleeping,' Percy replied slowly with a mouth full of food.

'Oh, come on! I'm bored.' She nudged his leg with her feet until he slapped her off. 'This is the first Sunday I've had off for weeks. Play with me.'

His mother smirked at him over her cup of coffee as Piper rattled on about why exactly he should spend the day outside of his room and his pyjamas. The summer had gone by too quickly and too much had happened for it to be over yet, but Percy was in a bubble of unproductiveness which meant that he was unwilling to even leave the apartment.

But he caved eventually. Because it was Piper, and of course he did.

He was walking from the bathroom, towel-drying his hair when he saw his mother leaning against the wall next to his bedroom door. 'Hey,' he said warily, 'what's up?'

She shifted, standing upright. 'Percy, have you made a decision yet? I know this is all very overwhelming for you...'

Percy felt his jaw clench. 'I don't know, mom. Why does it have to be? We were fine before he showed up.'

'I know we were, sweetheart.' She walked to him and cupped his cheek. 'And if you want to say no then that is entirely your decision. But please don't ignore an amazing opportunity because any resentment you might have towards your father.'

He's not my father, he wanted to say. He wasn't here for sixteen years, so why should he have any say now?

But his mother was looking at him with those pleading eyes and he couldn't argue with her. 'I'll think about it,' he said.

She released him. 'If it helps, the deadline is tomorrow.'

Right.

Wonderful.

Percy rummaged around his room for ten minutes, drying himself off and searching for some clean-ish clothes to wear. Piper was waiting on the same breakfast stool, chatting his mother's ear off about something whilst absent-mindedly spinning one of the wheels of the skateboard in her lap. She grinned at Percy when he walked in, still zipping up his hoodie.

'Here's the belle of the ball,' she sing-songed, hopping down from her stool. 'Later, Miss J.'

'Bye, Piper,' she replied, looking up from her laptop screen at Percy. 'Be back for dinner.'

'Yup.'

He picked up his skateboard and keys on the way out and slammed the door behind them, as usual.

The building he and his mom lived in was a huge white house that used to be home to a wealthy family. But today was owned by an old woman who went by the name Mrs Maybles. Percy didn't know if she had actually ever been married, but she still pinched his cheeks and gave him a nickel to "Buy some sweets, don't tell your mommy." The building had been converted into three separate apartments above hers on the ground floor. Percy and his mom lived in the top one.

The town of East Summers was, in a word, quaint. It had community watch for monitoring the non-existent crime rate, town meetings, twelve shops selling porcelain dolls and old stamps, a historical society, a town centre with a white gazebo which was the venue of most town events; it had one school, four churches, two diners and not one McDonalds in sight. Percy both loved and hated it.

Piper's house was a little out of town, huge and imposing with a gravel driveway and a security gate - again, to deter the thriving criminal community - marble staircases, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms and five ponds within its gargantuan gardens. Piper absolutely hated it.

They both rolled down the street on their boards, past old people and young people and couples and families on their Sunday days out. Some had returned from church and were still in their Sunday finest; some called to the teenagers by name, asking how Percy's mother was and if Piper's father would be coming home any time soon - the novelty of having a movie star living in such a small town would never wear off - and they answered briefly, not stopping on their way to the diner.

The Shack was one of the two diners in town, and the very one that Percy, Piper and Leo had been working at for two years. It was a throwback fifties style place, with red fake-leather booths; chessboard floors; records framed on the walls; a jukebox in one corner that was usually playing Elvis Presley or Buddy Holly and mint green uniforms for anyone unfortunate enough to work there.

'Leo should start his lunch break in a few minutes,' Piper informed him as they rolled up to the diner and pressed their noses to the glass. Sure enough, a mere twelve seconds later, their friend Leo Valdez appeared from the kitchen with a burrito in his mouth. Leo was short and looked like a madman to those who didn't know him - though he still looked like a madman to Percy and he had known him for ten years.

'Hey chicas!' he yelled as he bounded out the door. 'You came to take me on a date for my lunch break. You gals are so thoughtful.'

Percy rolled his eyes as he stepped onto his board and pushed off again. 'You're riding on Piper's board.'

'Buddy!' Leo called after him. 'Don't be so sensitive, sweetheart. We can make this work! Don't throw away three years of marriage on something so frivolous- OW!'

Percy didn't have to look back to know that Piper just smacked their friend upside the head. He laughed to himself and slowed his pace as they caught up. The three of them had mastered sharing a board over the years, but seeing Leo and Piper balancing on Piper's bright purple skateboard still made Percy laugh.

'Does that mean you forgive me, darling?' Leo inquired, taking another bite of his burrito and keeping one arm around Piper's waist as she pushed them along.

Their usual skate park was only a street down from the diner, behind the large town hall building, ducked out of sight. Taylor Mitchem, their incorrigible self-appointed town leader, had been trying to get rid of the park for years, or at least clean off the graffiti covering most of the ramps. Piper had used her father's influence and her own charm to protest otherwise, and she had been successful. To Percy's and Leo's eternal gratitude. The skate park was their second home, it wasn't Taylor's to ruin.

The skate park wasn't all that big and had barely any ramps. It was dug into the earth, with concrete bowls cut into one end and steps on the other, all with worn metal railings that Percy had gained far too much experience falling off over the years. Beyond the concrete was a stretch of green before the border of the forest on the West of the town. There were a few kids rolling around and a few more lying on the nearby grass, stretched out like puppies under the sun.

Percy handed his board over to Leo before he could start pulling faces and whining at him, and walked to sit on one of the unused concrete benches on the town side of the park. Away from the kids in the sun; they were far too happy for him to be near right now.

He watched his friends skate around, yelling to each other and barking out wild laughs to the blue sky. After a few minutes, he drifted away from it all and lay down on the cool concrete, closing his eyes to the bright sunshine. He would usually be joining in with his best friends, yelling at them and daring Leo to pull a trick they all knew he couldn't pull off. But Percy had been withdrawn all summer.

You see, after they broke up from East Summers High School in June, Percy from his Sophomore year and Piper and Leo from their Freshmen year, something very big happened to Percy. Up until then, the biggest drama in his life had been when he broke his arm when he was thirteen and he could see the bone poking out through his skin. This had been a different kind of drama, one that would affect him more than a cast on his arm for six weeks.

This summer, Percy Jackson met his father for the first time in his life.

Before June, Percy didn't even know what the guy looked like. His mother had told him that he looked like him, his father. So Percy envisioned green eyes, black hair and permanently tanned skin on an older face. But he didn't have any more than that. His mom always seemed sad when he asked so after a while he just stopped asking. He didn't even know why the guy left, only that it happened before Percy was three months old and that apparently he wasn't a bad person, he just had a complicated life.

Percy didn't buy it. He resented the guy before he'd even met him for leaving his mom in such a state. Sally had done a pretty good job without him, raising a kid alone was hard enough, never mind one with ADHD and behavioural issues. But his father was by no means forgiven.

'Hey,' Piper's voice appeared above him, 'scootch your butt.'

Percy opened his eyes and frowned at her until she held her board above his stomach threateningly. He sat up, running a hand through his hair distractedly as Piper sat next to him. She was the pinnacle of summer; denim cut-off shorts; her usual pink, ink covered converses; a loose blue vest top and sunglasses, which she now pushed into her messily braided hair.

'So, what's up, misery guts?' she asked, leaning back on her hands and closing her eyes to the sun.

Percy copied her actions and let out a long sigh. 'My mom wants me to make a decision by tomorrow.'

Piper sniffed, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. 'What's her stance on it?'

'She's playing the neutral card.'

'Well, what do you want?'

He groaned and lay down on the bench, letting his head hang off the edge. 'I don't know,' he said, staring at the red brick wall of the town hall. 'I feel like he's just swooped in and fucked everything up. Like, why should he even get that privilege?'

'So don't go.'

'But my mom keeps going on about how it's a great opportunity...'

'So go.'

Percy lifted his head to frown at her. 'Are you being this unhelpful on purpose?'

She opened her eyes and stared down at him, raising her eyebrows delicately. 'What are you so afraid of, Percy? You think your dad will win if you go to this preppy school?'

'Maybe?'

'You know that's exceptionally idiotic of you, right?'

'Well, at least I'm consistent.'

Piper was silent for a moment and he watched her fidget and purse her lips until she eventually spoke. 'Do you want me to be completely honest with you?'

'Please.'

She sighed and swiveled around to sit cross-legged in front of him, Percy sat up and watched Leo as he attempted one of the ramps.

'I think you're afraid. And let me finish before you start whining at me,' she said, holding a hand up to him as he opened his mouth to object. He closed it again and clenched his jaw as she continued. 'You're afraid of change; you've had the same job and the same friends and the same home for years. And now that something - someone - has come along to change that, you've burritoed yourself into a comfy little denial bubble.' Percy gave her a funny look. 'Percy you've been dull to be around all summer and the only reason I haven't said anything up until now is that I know you have stuff to work through. But I've had enough, I want my best friend back.'

'I'm right here,' he murmured grumpily.

Piper poked his arm. 'Are you though?'

Percy looked at her, her pouting, concerned face, and nudged her leg. 'Sorry, I've been a shitty friend lately. But Pipes, if I go to this school, I really won't be here.'

'Oh, man, you haven't told him yet?' Leo called as he scrambled up the slope and sprawled out on the floor in front of them.

Piper huffed at him. 'I was trying to figure out what he wanted first, Leo. We talked about the plan, remember. And you just walked through the plan and ruined the plan, you're a plan ruiner.'

'Hold up,' Percy said, holding up a hand, 'you have a plan?'

'Yes, it had steps.'

Percy looked between his friends, feeling nervous all of a sudden. 'Okay, so what was the next step?'

'Dude,' Leo said, almost bouncing with excitement, 'we're going with you.'

A beat of silence passed as Percy attempted to understand.

'What?' he asked, looking at Piper who bit her lip, looking sheepish all of a sudden.

'I told my dad about the whole thing and you know he wanted me to go to Moncada instead of E.S. in the first place, so he jumped at the opportunity. Even offered to pay Leo's tuition as well.'

'Yeah,' Leo jumped in, 'she took a little convincing, but mom agreed to it. She's saying it's only a loan and she'll pay him back - you know how she is about taking money, but I convinced her.' Piper cleared her throat pointedly and Leo shifted. 'Okay, Piper convinced her.'

'I still don't understand,' Percy said.

Piper rolled her eyes. 'We're saying that if you go to Moncada, we'll come with you.'

Percy stared at them, Leo's grinning face and Piper's hopeful one. His best friends, who would leave behind their school, their friends, everything, for him. And all of a sudden he could see it; the block in his mind disappeared and he saw himself at this new school surrounded by new people with Piper and Leo next to him. Because they always would be.

'Are you guys sure?'

'Does that mean we're going?' Leo asked excitedly.

Percy felt a smile creep across his face. 'Yeah, I guess it does.'

And as Leo leaped up and started whooping like a maniac, Percy met Piper's eyes. She was laughing at Leo's reaction, but sobered a little when she looked at Percy.

'Are you sure about this?' he asked.

Piper leaned over and punched his arm. 'Yes, I'm sure, you moron.'

Percy felt himself smile and before he knew it he was yelling along with Leo and hauling the shorter boy over his shoulder as Leo whined about his dignity. Piper watched them from the bench, laughing wildly and refusing to help Leo as Percy skated them towards one of the ramps.

* * *

_Tuesday, 1st September 2009_

From there, it went faster than Percy would have liked. His mother looked like she might cry with relief when he told her and called the school with one arm still wrapped around him. His father had reserved him a place at the beginning of the summer, but Piper and Leo were a different story. When Percy asked, Piper told him that her father used his charm to talk the principal around to letting them start classes in September. Charm. She also mentioned that the school would be getting a new tennis court that fall due to some substantial donations from an anonymous sponsor.

Moncada boarding school was situated five miles outside of East Summers, and the fact that it was a boarding school meant that Percy was packing his room up for the first time ever. He, Leo and Piper would be reducing their shifts at the diner, mostly to the weekends, and would be commuting by the shuttle bus that drove in and out of town from the school twice a day. Other than that, Moncada would be their new home. Percy could barely get his head around that.

Two days after he made his decision, his father visited. He was not a man of many words, he grunted and put a hand on Percy's shoulder for an awkward moment. It did shock Percy quite how alike they looked; same hair, complexion, eyes; he was taller and stockier than Percy, and had a beard. But the alikeness was uncanny. Percy wondered if he'd gotten any of his mother's genes.

'Are you really going to take all of these skateboards,' she asked him from behind a mountain of boxes.

They were packing up his room today. Term started in six days, he was leaving in five. Percy was lying on his bed with a comic book in his hands; he had yet to start packing, but for the four skateboards he's piled into a box. Despite his mother's nagging, he hadn't seen the need to start yet. Percy didn't really see a deadline until it was staring him in the face, and he had a few more days before that would happen.

'I'm not gonna stop boarding just because i'm going to a fancy school, mom.'

She sighed. 'Percy, you don't need four. You can take two.'

He frowned at her over his comic. 'What if one breaks.'

'Then you can use the other one.'

'What if that one breaks too?'

'Then you can come home and get another one. This school is five miles away, Percy, it's not in Alaska.'

Percy put his comic down and sat up, pulling a pillow into his lap. 'Is this just something to get me to come home more often?'

Sally shook her head at him, smiling at his mischievous grin. 'I should hope that wouldn't be the only reason.'

'Well, I don't think they make blue waffles at Moncada, so I'll have to.'

She pursed her lips at him and he grinned.

'Oh come on, mom. I'll be home every weekend and every time I have a shift. I'll probably end up sleeping here most nights.'

She pointed the lamp in her hand at him. 'No, you wont. I want this to be a real experience for you, Percy. You have to put an effort in to this.'

'I will.' And when she fixed him with a stern look, he held up his hands. 'I will. I promise, mom, I wont mess this up.'

She walked over and sat on the end of his bed. 'I know you won't, sweetheart.'

'You'll miss me?' Percy asked.

'Oh terribly.' She smiled that warm smile of his and he took a mental photograph. That smile was home. And he was leaving it behind.

* * *

_Saturday, 4th September 2009_

Piper had taken a similar approach to packing as Percy. She was now lying in the middle of her vast bedroom as Leo and Percy sprawled out in the bean bag chairs, throwing a skateboard wheel back and forth to one another. Piper had looked around her room for a full five minutes before groaning and throwing herself on the floor. Her problem was that she was moving from bedroom bigger than Percy's entire apartment, into a box room that she would have to share with another person.

'Just don't take all your crap,' Leo suggested as he launched the wheel back at Percy.

'We have to wear uniform anyway,' Percy said, returning the wheel.

'That should be fun. Do you even know how to tie a tie, Percy?'

He snorted. 'Do you?'

'I'll figure it out. I'm just lookin' forward to all the new ladies in their uniform.'

'Dream on, buddy.'

Their conversation fell like a tennis match, back and forth following their makeshift ball, as Piper ignored them from the floor.

Percy had spent so much time in this room since he was a kid; it had been their playground when the weather outside wasn't kind enough. They used to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings, play hide-and-seek, make blanket forts, pretend the floor was lava, play with Leo's creations and try not to burn holes in the walls (Piper still has an Adventure Time poster over the scorch mark Leo's flaming tennis ball made when they were twelve). But Percy wasn't sure he was ready to say goodbye to the room any more than Piper was.

He caught the wheel again and dropped it to the floor, standing up and walking over to Piper. She opened her eyes and blinked up at them as Leo moved to join him.

'What?' she asked.

'Pipes,' Leo said, 'you're our leader.'

'We need you to take front on this.'

Piper huffed and held her arms up to them. They each grabbed a hand and hauled her upright.

'I'm not gonna be able to look after you two forever, you know,' she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

'Shut up and start telling us what to do.' Leo replied with a mad grin.

And so she did. In half an hour they had three boxes and a suitcase full of Piper's belongings. She had internally debated over clothes and they had externally debated over posters, the record player, the bean bag chairs, books, photos, the dozens of little presents Leo and Percy had given to her over the years. Piper was in full motivation mode; her hair was tied back and her bossy voice was on. It could have been eight years ago as she instructed them exactly how to build a den in the small woods near her house.

Percy just hoped this wouldn't change any time soon.


	2. We play this right we can take the world

_Sunday, 5th September 2009_

Moncada boarding school was vast. It made Piper's home look like an apartment.

From the overly extravagant gates, she could see the main red brick building, dressed with turrets and pillars and tall windows. The long, gravel driveway was pristine, as were the freshly mowed lawns on either side, each of which held a fountain with a marble statue spewing out water from various places on its body.

'I don't think we're supposed to go in this way,' Percy muttered to his mother.

Sally looked past him, through the car window, at the imposing building and its surroundings. She shifted into drive and met Piper's eyes in the mirror briefly before driving the car further down the tree enclosed road. Leo was in his mom's truck behind them, Piper could see him hanging out of the passenger car window like a dog.

They followed the narrow road until they came to a sign bearing the school's name in an elegant script and below it, an arrow with the words _Parking for Dorms this way_, written in equally elegant and difficult to read gold paint. This place was even worse than Piper had thought, she started to wonder what she had gotten herself into by following Percy.

Piper had stopped moving around when she was seven years old. Her father realised this wasn't the best situation for a child and and bought the house in East Summers, hoping to provide some form of stability for her. And it had; she made friends and settled at school and got a part-time job, she had found her home. But she still didn't have a family. Her mother had been an inconsistency in her life; barely enough for Piper to know who she was. And her father was usually absent. He loved her, she knew that much. But the memories she had of her childhood existed mostly without him, and so they would continue to be through her adolescence.

Perhaps at this new school she would miss him less.

Sally parked the car in front of a large red-stone building and switched off the engine. They all sat in silence for a moment as the engine settled. This was their new home, there was no turning back now. No running to her bedroom and hiding under the blankets.

They were quiet until Esperanza pulled up in the spot next to them and Leo all but leapt out of the car like a puppy excited for a walk. Piper stepped out of the car and patted him on the head.

'Leo, calm down. You look like you're gonna combust.'

'I'm excited, Piper!'

'Really? I hadn't noticed.'

Percy joined them, looking more sheepish than usual with his hands shoved into his pockets and his bottom lip pulled between his teeth. He gave them an almost smile and Piper chucked him on the shoulder as a perky girl with pigtails and a clipboard in her hands approached them. She wore the school uniform; a starched white shirt, grey pleated skirt, grey knee-high socks, a gold and purple striped tie and a grey jacket with the school emblem on the left breast.

'Hi there guys! I'm Lizbeth! Can I take your names? and I'll let you know where your initiation is.'

Lizbeth reminded Piper of one of her father's assistants; smiling and efficient and oh-so-put-together Margaret. Piper had hated her, she was glad her father fired her a year and a half ago when she let it slip to the press the whereabouts of their private holiday home in Miami. Piper's whereabouts was still safe from the press, but Tristan wanted to keep it that way, and Margaret had proved herself highly untrustworthy.

'I'm Leo Valdez,' Leo said in what Piper supposed was an alluring voice. 'These are my _friends_, Piper McLean and Percy Jackson. And what might your name be?'

Lizbeth's eyes widened, but her pleasant smile did not falter. Lizbeth,' she replied emphatically.

Percy started giggling under his breath and Leo elbowed him in the ribs as Elizabeth checked her clipboard. 'Jackson, Percy,' she said, and Percy sobered, biting his lips as she smiled at him. Piper could swear he was blushing. 'You're starting Junior year, yes.'

Percy nodded mutely.

She smiled some more. 'Okay then, you need to go to the Brauronia building, which is just over there.' She pointed over the grassy campus to another one-storey red brick building. 'There are signs all over, so you can't get lost. There, you'll get assigned your dorm, locker, and timetable. Okay?'

Percy nodded again. 'Thanks,' he said.

He then ensured Sally he would be just fine on his own, and started walking towards the circle of buildings beyond the car park, head down, hands in his pockets.

Which left them with Lizbeth. 'Right,' she said slowly, tracing a finger down her clipboard. She was frowning and being excessively slow. It felt like she would snap the clipboard up to her chest and say, _Sorry, you're not on the list. You'll have to abandon your best friend at the school you convinced him to attend and go home._

'McLean, Piper, Sophomore, and Valdez, Leo, also Sophomore.'

Piper sighed in relief.

Lizbeth smiled at them, though it looked less warm than when she had smiled at Percy. 'If you could make your way to Erechtheum building and you'll be assi-'

'Yeah,' Piper interrupted as Leo's eyes lit up at the name of the building, 'we got the idea.'

'Right then.' She smiled. 'I hope you all enjoy your time here at Moncada. _Go, Furies!_' She punched the air and Piper nodded.

'Go, Furies,' she said with fake enthusiasm.

Sally and Esperanza were chatting contently by the end of the truck and encouraged Leo and Piper to take their time as they went off to find the Erechtheum building and Leo started up a series of bad jokes about his genitals.

Piper only half-listened as they walked through the campus. It felt like she had stepped into one of her father's movies; everything was so clean and grand and _perfect_. The buildings stood in a circle around the green, like old caravans around a campfire. The green itself was mowed to perfection, woven with stone pathways and dotted with various small trees. People strolled about, some in uniform with clipboards like Elizabeth, giving instructions and directions; others in their own clothes, carrying boxes of belongings or hugging their friends after a long summer apart. Piper felt like she was intruding on a world away from her own.

They followed the large white signs to one of the buildings springing off the main building they had seen from the front entrance, which had its own plaque entitling it as the Parthenon. As they stepped inside the building, Piper wondered if the founder of the school had a slight infatuation with ancient Greece.

They found a help desk with two uniformed girls handing out keys and pieces of paper and smiles like Lizbeth's. They joined the queue and Piper told Leo to stop with the dirty jokes already. When it was their turn, Lizbeth-point-two grinned at her.

'Hi there, can I take your name?'

'Piper McLean, Sophomore,' she said as Lizbeth-point-three helped Leo to her right.

'Okaayy,' said Piper's helper, dragging her finger down the list in front of her. 'Here you are.' she looked up with an apologetic expression and Piper's stomach dropped. 'I'm afraid due to your late applications, you'll all be sharing a dorm with a junior, I hope that won't be problem?'

Piper shook her head, relieved. 'That's fine.'

She grinned. 'Alrighty then. You're in cabin Alpha, which is directly across campus from this building, in room 315. Here's your key, there's an elevator to take you up to the third floor. And here is your timetable, a map of the school and your welcome pack. If you would like to register for a locker, as we only have a limited amount on campus, you can put your name down here.'

She pointed to a sheet of paper on the table and Piper shook her head, still processing the flurry of words that had just been thrown at her. 'I'm good, thanks.'

'Alrighty then. Do you have any other questions?'

_Is alrighty even a word?_ 'No, I'm good, thanks.'

She smiled. 'Okay then. Welcome to Moncada. _Go, Furies!_'

'Uh huh,' Piper said and grabbed Leo by the sleeve to drag him away from Lizbeth-point-three, who was no longer smiling at his wiggling eyebrows.

They pushed their way out of the building into the sunshine again and Piper began grumbling. 'If everyone here is like that, I'm going to go insane.'

'I know right!' Leo said giddily. 'All the girls here are so hot, they make the East Summers girls look like trolls.'

Piper punched his arm. 'Firstly, if you continue to talk about my gender in such detrimental terms I'm going to have to end our friendship right here. And secondly, _I'm _an East Summers girl in case you've forgotten.'

Leo grabbed her arm and grinned at her. 'Not any more, Pipes. You're a _Moncada girl_ now.'

As Piper contemplated whether she was happy about that, they made their way back to the parking lot. Leo was in the Alpha building too, on the ground floor. When they had returned to the cars, Sally and Percy had already started taking Percy's belongings to his dorm, which was in the Beta building, a full thirty feet away from the Alpha building. Piper, Leo and his mom each grabbed a box from the truck and made towards their dorms.

It was chaos. Gone was the ordered, pristine school. This was the reality of it. Students weighed down with suitcases and boxes, playing lacrosse across the hall, music blared out of several rooms, most of the doors stood propped open as boys walked in and out. Piper hoped the girls floor was slightly less chaotic.

She left Leo and Esperanza at the door of his dorm and carried on to the stairs at the end of the hall - the elevator was occupied and probably crammed with students carrying too many belongings to fit comfortably. By the time she reached the third floor, Piper was sweating and panting - she was seriously unfit. This floor was considerably calmer, though most of the doors stood open here too and she could hear more than one source of music as she walked down the hall. She received a few smiles off students and parents walking back and forth from rooms and did her best to return them.

And then she was there, at her room. The door was closed so she shifted the box to one arm and reached into her pocket for her key. But before she even got it free, the door swung open.

In front of her stood the pinnacle of a perfect student. She wore the school uniform, tie done up properly and shirt tucked into her straight skirt. Her blonde, curly hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and the bare, tanned skin of her face showed no hint of blemish. Unlike Lizbeth, her smile looked genuine.

'Hi,' she said, 'you must be Piper. Come in.'

Piper did. The room was approximately a fifth of the size of her bedroom back home and painfully bare. She could tell which side her new roommate had claimed as her own, and dumped her box on the bed on the right side of the room. They were single beds - which would take getting used to - pushed up against the wall. Built-in shelves made up the wall the beds were against, and at the foot of Piper's bed was a corner desk underneath one of the white framed windows that looked out onto the green. Her wardrobe was at the other end of the bed, closest to the door. There was definitely no room for a bean bag chair. The other side of the room was identical but for it being flipped so that the other desk faced the wall next to the door.

Piper looked at the other girl who still stood by the door, smiling at her. 'I'm Annabeth, by the way,' she said, leaning against the open door.

'Piper,' she replied. 'But, you already knew that. Sorry.'

Annabeth laughed. 'Don't worry about it. You're sophomore right?'

'Yeah. Sorry, you probably had this room to yourself before I came along.'

Annabeth shrugged one shoulder. 'As long as you don't snore like my last roommate did, we're good.'

'Well, I don't snore.'

'Well, we're good.'

Piper nodded, feeling a grin creep across her face. Annabeth tilted her head out the door. 'You want a hand with the rest of your stuff?'

'Oh, you don't have to do that,' Piper said, walking out into the hall again.

Annabeth closed the door behind them. 'It's no problem.'

They walked back down the stairs together, past other students as Piper questioned her new friend. 'So when did you get here?'

'A couple of days ago. I had a few meetings and things to sort out. And to be honest, I couldn't wait to get back.'

'Really?' Piper felt herself frown as she ducked out of the way of a lacrosse stick - they were back on the ground floor again.

'Yeah, this place is home to me. It has been for the past two years, though this is my first year in Alpha.'

'That's cool. Speaking of, what is it with all the Greek stuff here?'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'A few years back this place was all renovated and renamed, and apparently the new owner had a thing for Ancient Greece. No one actually calls things by the right name though, except for the dorms; Alpha, Beta and Gamma. But mostly people just abbreviate; the Arrephorion - which are the overnight teachers dorms - is the Rep house; the Brauronia is the Rony; the Chalkotheke is the Chalky. You get the idea.'

Piper raised her eyebrows. 'You'll have to write those down for me or something.'

Annabeth laughed. 'You'll get the hang of it.' and Piper felt like she was talking about more than just the names of the buildings.

It took three more trips to get all of Piper's belongings upstairs and by the time they did, her bed wasn't visible under the mountain of boxes and bags.

Annabeth grinned at her. 'Your half is going to be a lot fuller than mine.'

Piper smiled back sheepishly. 'My room back home is a little bigger.'

'So's mine. I'm just not good at clutter, I can't think straight when I'm surrounded by stuff.'

Annabeth was cut off by the sound of her phone buzzing on the wood of her desk.

'Oh crap,' she said, reaching for it, 'I'm sorry, I wish I could stay and help you unpack but I'm already late,' she spoke quickly as her phone continued to buzz in her hand, she swiped the screen and held it up to her ear. 'Hey Jase, hang on one second.' She held the phone to her chest and picked up her bag from her bed. 'I'm sorry,' she said to Piper, 'I'm supposed to be helping out with the Freshmen and stuff. I'll see you later, yeah?'

Piper nodded. 'Sure, don't worry about it.'

Annabeth smiled as she opened the door and held the phone back to her ear. Piper followed to the door and heard her voice as she walked down the hall. 'Okay I'm here. And I'm on my way now, I was just helping my new roommate move in… yeah, she's really nice. What's yours like?... oh, come on, he can't be that bad… what do you mean he brought a tool box...?'

Her voice disappeared as Piper closed the door and walked back to her bed to her mountain of belongings. The first thing she did was tie her hair back with the elastic band in her pocket, the second was to locate her record player and set it up on her desk. It had been a present from her father for her thirteenth birthday. Since then, her collection had grown from a Dire Straits single to five full shelves on one of her bedroom walls. She had only brought one cardboard box full with her, the contents of which had been torture to choose. Piper flicked through them now and pulled out a Death Cab album to play.

After that, unpacking was a relatively calming process. Piper was almost glad to be alone as she made one side of the room hers. She made the bed up with the white and blue sheets she'd found in the airing cupboard back home; she stacked her records and books on the shelves, put away clothes and shoes in the wardrobe, tacked posters to the little wall space available and pinned photos to the pinboard above her desk.

An album later, she had made considerable process. There were few bits still left to do, but she flopped down on her bed anyway and pulled her Jake cushion to her chest. She looked around her new room, feeling better now that it was filled with her things. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, smiling at the image of Percy's scrunched up face before accepting the call.

'Hey, loser.'

'Have you finished unpacking yet?' Percy's voice replied without delay.

'Almost,' she murmured, 'you?'

'Uhhh, kinda. But anyway, mom needs to go, she wants to say goodbye to you.'

'Okay, see you outside your building?'

'Sure.'

'Bye, loser.'

She hung up and picked up her key, hesitating for a moment at her desk. She ripped a small piece of paper from her notepad and scrawled out a message for Annabeth, telling her she was with a friend and leaving her cell number at the bottom. Then she was out the door and down the hall.

Percy, Sally, Leo, and Esperanza all stood outside the Beta building, halfway through embraces. It halted Piper for a moment as she realised she didn't have a parent there to kiss her goodbye, until Sally called her over and pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead like she was her own daughter. Esperanza followed soon after and cupped Piper's cheeks between her rough palms.

'You take care of our boys.'

'I will,' Piper promised.

There was another round of hugs and an equal amount of complaining from the boys and then they were gone, and the three of them were left without parental supervision. The prospect should not have made Piper feel so giddy - she had spent most of her childhood with barely any parental supervision - but it felt different now that she was at school and she would be sleeping here and eating here and living here. She threw an arm over Leo's shoulder and grinned at Percy.

'Are you gonna show us your room then?'

Percy frowned. 'Why my room?'

'Because I know Leo's already made a mess of his and you haven't finished unpacking.'

They both began to protest until Piper gave them one of her looks and said, 'Pretty please?' And they both caved immediately.

The Beta building was a little smaller than Alpha, Piper supposed that had contributed to their naming, but was of the same basic layout. The ground floor was as chaotic as Alpha's and Leo was nearly decapitated by a rogue football as they made for the staircase to take them up to the first floor, which had boys at one end and girls at the other. Piper wondered briefly how that would work out. Percy pulled out his key and unlocked the door, ushering them both inside before following himself. The room was a similar layout to her own, but Piper's attention was drawn to the boy sat on one of the beds fiddling with a small wooden figurine. Although he must have only been a Sophomore, his build looked that of a college football player with the lingering chubbiness of childhood. He looked close to frightened as they all piled in the room and Leo unceremoniously threw himself onto Percy's bed amongst the pile of unpacked boxes.

'Oh,' Percy said, 'sorry man. This is Leo and Piper. Guys, this is Frank, my roommate.'

Piper smiled at the boy and a blush painted his round cheeks. 'Hi,' he murmured.

'You're a Sophomore?' she asked, clearing a place on Percy's desk to sit down.

'Yeah.'

'You live near here?' Piper hedged, trying to pull a conversation out of him.

'Not really.' He sounded unsure of how to answer and Piper tilted her head to the side, attempting what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Frank bit his lip. 'Army brat, my mom's positioned in Afghanistan right now but she kind of fell in love with the town near here.'

'East Summers?'

He blinked. 'Uh, yeah.'

'That's where we all live,' Percy explained. 'Well, me and Leo at least. Pipes has a mansion just outside of town.'

'It's not a mansion, Percy.'

'It has seven bathrooms,' Leo interjected.

'That does not make it a mansion.'

'We played tennis in your bedroom, Piper. It's a mansion.'

Piper rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to a slightly bemused looking Frank. 'Sorry,' she said, 'you were saying about your mom?'

'Uh, yeah. She really liked the town, and since my dad isn't around and my grandmother still lives in Canada, the boarding school was the only decent option for me.'

'You're Canadian?' Leo piped up. 'Hey I know a great joke about a moose walking into a bar-'

'Leo, shut up,' Piper said. She turned her attention to Frank again. 'So, have you prepared yourself for living with Percy for the next ten months?'

Frank's eyes widened a little. 'I guess.'

'Piper, I'm not that bad,' Percy protested as he tacked a _Chuck_ poster to the wall next to his wardrobe. The first thing he would see in the morning was Yvonne Strahovski in a little black dress and a gun holster strapped to her thigh.

'You should see his bedroom back home,' Piper continued, ignoring Percy altogether, 'though Sally will go to town on it now for sure. She's been dying to for _years_.'

'It's not as bad as Leo's.'

'Well, Leo's room may as well be a garage.'

'Guys, I'm right here.'

'It's _his_ roommate we should be feeling bad for.'

'Poor, poor guy. I wonder who it is.'

* * *

Jason's day was not going well.

It was only 11am and he was already tired of Lizbeth Walker talking his ear off about the committee not being organised enough and why is everything running late and why don't we have enough clipboards and where is Annabeth?

_Where was Annabeth?_

She was supposed to meet him ten minutes ago in the Party house (Parthenon) to take over the Freshmen enrolment table from Carly and Jake, who both looked like they were in desperate need of a break when he relieved them. But there had been no sign of his friend and no break in the relentless stream of fresh-faced Freshmen asking questions in nervous little voices.

Mercifully, a break finally came and Jason took advantage of it to call Annabeth.

He heard the dial tone for six seconds before it connected and his friend's harried voice came through the speaker, 'Hey, Jase. Hang on one second.'

He sighed as something bristled through the speaker, and he pictured her holding her phone against the lapel of her jacket. He wondered briefly who she was speaking to and if they were the reason she was running late. Annabeth Chase was never late; this had been something Jason learnt at a very young age. She arrived at least five minutes early to everything and planned every possibility down to a t. No broken down vehicle or dead phone battery would ever delay her plans. The disruption of her timing made Jason feel uneasy. He and Annabeth were usually in sync with just about everything - his sister used to tease that they would both have periods at the same time if he were a girl - if one of them was up so was the other; and if one of them was down, the other stooped as far down as they could go to drag them back up again. They could have been twins for as close as they were.

'Okay, I'm here,' Annabeth's voice snapped him back to the phone held to his ear. 'And I'm on my way now, I was just helping my new roommate move in.'

So _that_'s who it was. It made sense; Annabeth had only found out she was getting a roommate a week ago, at the same time he had been given the same news, and she wanted to help her settle in.

'You're forgiven,' he said, 'what's she like?'

'Yeah, she's really nice.' She sounded genuine. 'What's yours like?'

Jason groaned. 'Don't even ask. How do you think your new roommate would feel about me sleeping on your floor?'

She barked a laugh. 'Oh, come on, he can't be that bad.'

'He brought a tool box, Annabeth.'

'What do you mean he brought a tool box?'

'I mean a tool box. One of those red metal fold out things full of wrenches and hammers and screwdrivers-'

'Yeah, yeah,' she bristled, 'don't pretend you know anything about mechanics, Jason. Who was it that built our first den out of old wood and a few rusty nails?'

'That would be you, oh queen of everything. Now will you hurry up and get down here? I'm going crazy all by my lonesome.'

'On my way now, Data.'

The tone went dead and he slipped his phone into the pocket of his trousers, it made a blocky lump against his leg. Jason didn't have a thin, white iPhone like Annabeth, his was an old Nokia which Annabeth usually stole to play _snake_ on. He could easily afford a nice new phone, but simply never felt the need for one; this one made calls, sent text messages and had an alarm clock. What more did he really need? Sure, the thing was kind of an antique, but it's battery life was about twenty times better than Annabeth's and he had dropped it far too many times to count and it was still alive, so Jason was happy with it.

He turned back to the desk as a short girl with dark skin and darker hair braided into two french plaits walked up.

'Hey, Hazel,' he greeted with a smile.

'Hi,' she sighed, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she looked down at the clipboard in her other. She looked up at him. 'I don't suppose you have an extra copy of the register? I'm missing letters H to L.'

'There's probably one here somewhere.' He began rooting in the folders underneath the desk. 'How's initiation day going for you?'

Hazel's groan was unmistakable even through a wooden table. 'If Lizbeth nags me one more time, I'm going to have a seizure.'

Jason laughed. 'This is her favourite time of year,' he said, standing up again and bringing with him a few sheets of paper bearing the new school register. He shuffled through them and found Hazel's missing one, smiling as he handed it over.

'You're a life saver,' she said gratefully, tucking the sheet between her own. 'See you later.'

'Yeah,' he returned as she disappeared through the doors outside. As she did, another figure appeared, taller and slimmer and blonder.

'About time,' Jason said as Annabeth slipped around the desk and stowed her bag on the floor underneath it.

'You're in a bad mood today,' she noted.

'Sorry.' He rubbed his face tiredly and leaned against the table. 'I'm tired.'

She frowned at him.

'After you left my dorm last night, my dad called.'

Annabeth's jaw clenched and she nodded understandingly. 'What did he say?'

He shook his head. 'The usual. Nothing, everything. I don't know, but I couldn't sleep last night because I kept replaying the conversation in my head. And this morning I met my insane new roommate and Lizbeth Walker has found twenty new ways of driving me insane.'

'I swear she only does it because she's in love with you.'

Jason rolled his eyes and, despite himself, felt his lips curve into a smile. 'As if.'

'No, really. Every time she sees you her eyes light up like it's Christmas morning.'

'I think she's Jewish.'

'See, you already know so much about her! You two are _perfect_ for each other!'

Jason shook his head at her and mirrored her grin with his own. 'What's put you in such a good mood today?'

Annabeth's eyes positively twinkled. 'Today is a brand new day, Jason. A new semester, a new school year. And it's going to be a good one. This is my last year before I have to start thinking about college, so...'

'Annabeth, you've been thinking about college since we were in pre-school.'

She frowned at him. 'Can you just join me in my positivity please? I'm not sure I like you without your Captain Optimism hat on.'

'I'm not sure I like you this cheery, it's freaking me out.'

'Jason.'

He chucked her on the chin and stepped up to the desk as a group of people approached. 'Alright, _Kaylee_, we'll have a good year.'

'A _great_ year.'

He threw her a smile before turning his attention to the two freshmen boys waiting to be attended to. While Annabeth greeted one enthusiastically, Jason welcomed the other in an as cheery voice as he could manage,

'Hi, welcome to Moncada. Can I take your name?'

The boy muttered something at his sneakers. Before Jason could open his mouth to ask again, the boy's mother tapped him on the shoulder. 'For goodness sakes, Martin, stop mumbling.' She looked up at Jason and pushed her sunglasses into her hair. 'Martin Kingsley.'

Jason nodded and began flicking through the register for the boy's name. He recognised the surname; Kingsley was one of his father's competitors, very rich and very powerful. Jason sympathize greatly with Martin, sometimes it wasn't easy being the child of a CEO.

He handed Martin his dorm key and welcome pack and met his brown eyes for a second before the freshmen was staring at his shoes again. His mother threw Jason a smile and practically batted her eyelashes at him before sauntering off with her friend and their sons in tow. Jason knew those women all too well, he knew their type at least. All of them held a basket of secrets under their botox and fake nails. Whether it be an affair with the pool boy or closet alcoholism.

'Wow,' Annabeth muttered as they watched the retreating group, 'that's the worst boob job I've ever seen.'

Jason barked out a laugh. 'I hadn't noticed,' he said honestly.

'Jason, you must be the most innocent teenage boy in the world.'

'Just because I don't point out every bad bit of plastic surgery that walks past.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Believe me, I wish I didn't. It's like there's a computer in my brain; I notice details like that before I can stop myself looking for them.'

'And you call _me_ Data.'

'Har har.'

He grinned at her, not pausing to wonder how she managed to turn his mood around. Annabeth was always doing that.

'Anyway,' she said, 'tell me more about this oh so terrible roommate of yours.'

Jason sighed. 'He's not that bad. He seemed kind of nice actually, kind of manic. Like he was hopped up on caffeine. And he has a lot of stuff, and most of it seems to be mechanical.'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows into her hairline. 'Maybe he likes mechanics.'

He chucked her shoulder. 'Whatever, I'll give him a chance. Tell me about your unfortunate victim. Have you told her that you snore yet?'

'I do _not_ snore!' she fired up immediately.

Jason scrunched his nose up. 'You do a little bit.'

'I do _not_.'

'But you do.'

'Shut up.'

'Whatever. Tell me about her.'

Annabeth shrugged. 'She seems nice. She's pretty, I mean like _really _pretty. I'm pretty sure she cut her own hair and shorts with the same pair of scissors, but it works for her. And she seems kind of familiar, I don't know why.'

'What's her name.'

'Piper McLean.'

'McLean,' he repeated, 'McLean, as in Tristan _McLean_ the famous movie star?'

Annabeth's eyes widened. 'You don't think.'

Jason shrugged. 'He's supposed to have a house around here, right? You told me that.'

She tilted her head and frowned at nothing in particular. 'That was overheard _WASPS_ gossip. Hardly a solid source of information.'

'I don't know, those women are pretty tenacious.'

Annabeth ignored him, staring at the papers on the small desk as she pursed her lips and frowned in thought.

'What?' he asked.

She looked up at him. 'She didn't seem like the daughter of a moviestar.'

'Well, what would you expect? We aren't our parents, Annabeth. You and I know that better than anybody.'

She throws him an apologetic smile. 'I guess you're right. In any case, I'm pretty sure I struck gold with the roommate assignment.'

'That makes one of us,' he grunted. 'I think I must have done something awful in a past life.'

'Maybe you were a snake. Snakes aren't nice.'

'I'm sure snakes are just misunderstood animals.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Jason, would you still call them misunderstood as it slowly strangled you to death or swallowed you whole?'

'Unnecessary mental image.'

'You're an unnecessary mental image.'

* * *

jason/annabeth friendship is possibly my favourite thing in the world so i hope you're ready for more of that in future

(if you catch the references from every TV show you get a cookie)

The chapter title is from Golden City by Coasts

until next week, friends x


	3. And we get to guessing games

_Wednesday 16th September 2009_

PIPER took to her new routine with relative ease. The early mornings were a drag, but she coped. That's not to say that she didn't groan like a dying animal when Annabeth poked her awake at 7am, and that she was unable to utter complete sentences until she'd had a shower and a cup of coffee. Annabeth was good company in the mornings; she was quiet as they sat in the cafeteria and she flicked through files of notes from her school council meetings or finished homework. Piper wished she had the ability to function so easily in the mornings; unfortunately she was left in a zombie like state until the bell rang for class. She didn't usually see Percy or Leo until their morning classes together or the break at 10am. Both of them had an uncanny ability to wake up ten minutes before the morning bell and still make it to class looking human. Piper particularly begrudged Leo of this in their first period physics class on Wednesday, where he bounced up and down on his stool at the back of the class like a seven year old hopped up on sugar. When he wasn't bouncing, he was fiddling; making something ridiculous - and usually pretty cool - out of the spring in her clicky pen and a few scrap pieces of paper. When they were little, Piper was constantly being amazed by the little contraptions her friend made out of almost nothing; she'd leapt up to try and catch the little helicopters he'd made out of elastic bands and an aluminium can. Now, most of the novelty had worn off; although when Leo catapulted a tampon from her bag at the back of Mr Ridley's head, she laughed so hard she nearly fell off her stool, and ended up in detention for it too.

She first saw Percy on a Tuesday in their second periods Spanish class - their only class together due to Percy being a junior and she a sophomore - of which they were in the lowest set. Piper's forte was French; her father used to take her to Paris every winter break and she had always loved ordering their food and asking for things in shops and directions on the street. She was almost fluent now, despite the fact that she hadn't been to Paris for two years. But Spanish was another story, she hated it. She couldn't seem to wrap her head around the nouns and the silent letters and all those damn irregular verbs. The language itself was familiar to her; from listening to Leo converse with his mother for years, but it had never stuck with her. And Percy, being dyslexic, needed no other reason to hate the language; he struggled enough with his own, never mind a one with a whole new letters for his brain to morph into unrecognisable squiggles, hence him having failed the class the year before and having to retake it. And so they were in a class with twenty other students who did not want to be there. Piper hadn't expected misbehaving kids in a posh boarding school, but some of these students were worse than those at East Summers. She and Percy sat on the third row and slumped low in their seats, muttering about Chuck and when they would next get to go to the skate park.

And so her routine was born.

Two weeks into the term, Piper was riding the bus back into town for her shift at the diner. It was 4.00 in the afternoon and she had run straight from french class to catch the bus. The bus window vibrated under her temple but she couldn't bring herself to move. The route took them past her house, the gargantuan building was hidden partially from view by the large pine trees lining the long gravel driveway. Piper closed her eyes, if there was one thing she was grateful for about Moncada it was that she no longer heard her own voice echo around the large empty house, and her father's non-presence no longer felt so heavy.

Piper sat up straight as they rolled into town, she stood up to press the bell and went to stand by the door. The sunlight kissed her skin and gave her new energy as she thanked the bus driver and hopped off the step. It felt like months since she'd been in town; it was exactly the same as always. Sunny and smiling and quaint. Piper crossed the square to Percy's street; she wasn't due to start work for another twenty minutes and Sally would be glad to see her. She knocked on the door and waited only a few seconds before it was pulled open and revealed a flour-covered Sally Jackson.

'Piper! Hello, sweetheart.'

She was bustled inside and presented with sandwiches and a coffee. Sally's chatter and the coffee stirred Piper's brain and helped her wake from her post-school sluggishness. She hadn't slept well the night before. Her mother had decided to break the six month long silence between them and called her to ask her about staying with her over Winter Break.

Piper had said she would think about it.

She had wanted to say no. The word had bubbled at her lips, but refused to come out in the end, leaving her mother with an indecisive mumble of a non-answer. Piper was still hoping her father would turn up and take her to Paris again; or at least come back to East Summers to spend part of the holiday with her. And even if he didn't, she would want to spend the break at the Jackson's, like she had done for the past few years; with the Valdez's piled into the small living room. Leo and Esperanza didn't really celebrate Christmas, but the Valdez-Jackson unit had made their own traditions over the holiday, and Piper had become a part of that for the past few years. So they all swapped gifts, ate a gargantuan amount of food, and went into town for the evening bonfire and carol singing in the snow.

Eventually, having used the bathroom to change into her uniform - a tragic lime green dress and a plaid bandana for her hair - she bid farewell to Sally and stumbled out the door, feeling far fuller and far more awake than she had done twenty minutes ago. She pulled her pink penny board from her backpack and rolled to work.

She had missed more things than she'd thought she would about the little town; like the cherry blossom covered bandstand surrounded by its neatly pruned bushes and miniature trees; the way every shop on the high street poured out onto the sidewalk, tidily littering it with buckets of flowers, bags of potatoes, tables carrying old pocket watches and antique clocks; the cluttered diner she worked at with its Elvis tributes and twelve page menu. She loved the safety of this town; no one locked their back doors at night or worried about their bins being stolen, this community was trusting – though admittedly a little stunted in some of its views – but it was so familiar to Piper that she couldn't help but forgive some of its shortcomings.

Moncada looked much the same as East Summers – old and beautiful, though far less quaint – and held the same regards as to safety – Piper very rarely locked the door to hers and Annabeth's dorm. But the other students there reminded her of the kids she'd been around when she and her father had lived, briefly, in LA. They were spoilt, rotten like apples with their cores bare and foul for all to see. It was not Annabeth, or even the likes of Lizbeth who was irritating, but not cruel. It was a threesome of girls in her class who told Piper she would be pretty if she hadn't cut her own hair; it was the comment made by a guy in the hall saying that he would love to piss his parents off by bringing home a 'dark girl' home. Or the worst yet, the group of freshmen who had started howling like kids playing cowboys and Indians when she walked past. Piper was just glad Percy hadn't been there when that had happened – he really couldn't afford a detention so early into the semester. Instead, it had been Annabeth walking with her to their english language class, and who had walked straight up to the boys and reprimanded each and every single one of them and sent them to the principal's office.

'Wow,' Piper had said, 'being roommates with a creep has its perks.'

'I am not a _creep_,' Annabeth had responded with arched eyebrows.

'You kind of are though.'

Annabeth shook her head, but she was smiling. 'Well this creep is signing you up to join the track team whether you like it or not.'

'Oh, come on.'

'It's good to be involved in extracurricular activities.'

Piper just sighed.

She did in fact end up joining the track team upon Annabeth's request. It didn't turn out to be as bad as Piper had thought it would be. They met up on Tuesdays and Thursdays after last bell and Saturday mornings and ran different routes around the school; through the forest or on the lanes. It was relaxing. As Annabeth usually preferred to sprint off like a lunatic, Piper started taking her iPod and used the time to zone out. What with new classes, taking care of Percy and Leo, travelling back to town for shifts at the diner, worrying about her mother's tapered phone calls (and her father's absent ones), she hadn't had much time to relax since starting at Moncada a two weeks ago.

The bell chimed as Piper walked into the _Shack_ and she received a few cheery welcomes from the staff and customers alike. Eddie Cochran was thrumming from the jukebox, there were five customers sat around the diner, having conversations over the booths, the whole place smelled slightly of Salmon. Piper felt right at home. And as she tied her apron around her waist, she made a mental note to bring Annabeth here soon.

* * *

_Saturday 19th September 2009_

Piper was running along a rutted path under a canopy of skyscraper trees. The smell of pine needles, sap and dirt filled her nose. It was a Saturday, too early in the morning, and the Eels were her morning melody, helping the regular pounding of her sneakers against the packed dirt path. She wasn't thinking about the algebra test on Tuesday; or the fifth message she'd left with her father's secretary; or the history essay on the Incas she had yet to start; or, apparently, the ground under her feet. The toe of her sneaker caught a tree root and she suddenly went flying, throwing her hands out in front of her to break the fall and grazing the skin all the way up to her elbows.

She rolled over onto her back and grunted. She'd suffered far worse falls from her skateboard in the past, but this fall was down to her own clumsiness and she would have to go back to Annabeth - and worse, Percy and Leo - and explain how she'd managed to get scrapes all up her arms because of a goddamn _root_. She glared up at the patches of blue sky visible through the leafy canopy and felt the urge to close her eyes and sleep. That was until the view was eclipsed by a figure staring down at her.

Wonderful.

'Hey,' the figure said – a boy, though she couldn't make out his features against the halo of light behind him – and offered a hand. 'You okay down there?'

Piper held back a groan of embarrassment and took the outstretched hand, allowing the figure to pull her upright. He pulled her up with a little too much vigour and she ended up falling forwards into him, placing her free hand against his chest to steady herself, splaying her fingers out across the grey fabric of his shirt and over the block purple letters of _Moncada Track Team_.

'Thanks,' she said once she had righted herself and pulled her headphones out.

He smiled at her with one side of his mouth. 'No problem. I fall down all the time in this forest. Damn roots.'

Piper laughed. She knew this boy, and yet she didn't. His blue eyes stared down at her with the same sort of look; he tilted his head to the side like a curious puppy.

'Jason,' she said.

He blinked, surprised, and nodded. 'Yeah.'

'I'm Piper.'

He nodded some more, realisation clicking in his features. 'Annabeth's roommate.'

'Yeah.'

They were both nodding, there was lots of nodding and it was beginning to get awkward.

'Uh, Piper?' Jason said

'Yeah?'

'You're still holding my hand.'

'Oh!' she released his hand, feeling her face flush and wiping her sweaty palm on her shorts. _Great_ first impression, possibly her best yet. 'Sorry,' she muttered.

Jason shook his head, still smiling. 'That's okay. You want to walk? I guess you'll be sore from that root attacking you.'

His smile was nearly a smirk, not mocking but joking, and it took her by surprise. She had seen him briefly in the halls, talking to Annabeth or other students she didn't know, or in some of her classes, but only the back of his head. Despite being in the same year, they had yet to stand still long enough to be introduced to one another, or even acknowledge that they had a mutual friend. But from what Piper had seen of him, he seemed serious, almost stern, and well-behaved. He was almost opposite of Percy and Leo, and even herself. Jason and Annabeth were model students; they belonged at Moncada Boarding School. Piper, Leo and Percy were not and did not; that was becoming more and more evident every day they were there. Of course none of them had said anything of this to Sally or Esperanza; as far as they were both concerned, Moncada was the best thing to have ever happened to the three of them.

But Piper was beginning to think that her initial impression of Jason hadn't been entirely accurate. His blue eyes were soft when he looked at her, his voice was encouraging, kind.

'Sure,' she said eventually. 'Though I've suffered worse, trust me.'

'Oh yeah?' he said as they continued along the dirt track.

'I've skate boarded since I could walk, so yeah.'

He raised his eyebrows at her and shook his head. 'I can't say I know the feeling.'

Piper stared at him, momentarily forgetting her pursuit of the ground for more murderous roots. 'You've never ridden a board?' she asked, feeling slightly more outraged than the situation required.

Jason smiled, amused at her horror. 'Nope. Is that really so weird?'

Piper's gaze returned to the ground. 'I guess not,' she resolved, shrugging. 'It's just that pretty much every kid in East Summers knows how to ride a board.'

'Oh, I see.'

They fell quiet. The forest kept them from absolute silence; the bird calls and rustle of leaves in the wind, along with the crunch of dirt and stone and twigs under their feet, and the music still blaring from Piper's headphones. She wanted to switch it off, but felt too awkward to do so; it would feel like officially announcing their conversation or something. Whatever it was, it kept her hands swinging by her sides and not reaching into the zipped pocket of her shorts.

'So,' she said after a moment, 'how come we haven't run into each other before? You're Annabeth's best friend aren't you?'

'Yeah I am. I usually eat breakfast with her but I've started tutoring in the mornings and I eat my breakfast in the library.'

'Man, I tried doing that once and that old lady kicked me out before I could even finish my Klondike bar.'

He chuckled. 'Miss Mahey wouldn't dare kick me out of that library.'

'Oh yeah?' she said with a raised eyebrow, 'do you and Miss Mahey have a special connection or something?'

He raised his eyebrows but there was something stuck about his expression, a guarded look that told her to change the subject.

'So, if you tutor other kids every morning and run on Saturdays, do you ever sleep-in?'

'Sundays,' he said, 'I get to sleep 'til ten.'

'Oh wow! Ten o'clock! You absolute rebel.'

'Don't mock me for my old man sleeping pattern; it's taken me years to perfect.'

She couldn't help but laugh; it echoed off the trees and sounded refracted and louder than when it left her mouth. It continued echoing after she's stopped and she felt a little awkward, from their conversation too; there was something so strangely intimate about discussing his sleeping pattern. Her mind immediately began to picture him waking up in the mornings; reaching under his pillow to switch off the alarm on his phone, rubbing sleep from his eyes; what did he wear? Sleep pants and a t-shirt? a vest top? just boxers?

Piper wondered what Jason might think if he realised she was thinking about him in his boxers and tried not to laugh.

'So what's your roommate like? Does he appreciate your old man-ness?'

'The old man-ness is strictly my sleeping pattern,' he said, pointing a finger at her, 'and yeah, he's cool. I thought he was a little insane when I first met him, but he's actually a nice guy. Still crazy though.'

'I don't suppose his name is Leo Valdez,' she joked.

But Jason looked at her, shocked. 'Yeah, actually.'

'Wait, seriously? You're Leo's roommate? Seriously?'

Jason hung his head back and shook his head as something clicked for him. 'Of course, you're his _"sister from another mister"_.'

Piper stared. 'Please, god, don't say he actually refers to me as that.'

Jason chuckled. 'I did think it was kind of weird.'

Piper shook her head. 'Sister from another mister. I'm going to kill him.'

Jason laughed at her reaction. 'He's not your brother then?'

She rolled her eyes. 'Not biologically, thank god. But we did grow up together. I guess he and Percy are kind of my brothers.'

'From another mother?' he teased.

Piper groaned. 'Leo is so dead.'

Later that evening, Piper was sat on Annabeth's bed with her feet propped on the other girl's desk chair. Annabeth ignored her as she fiddled with some complicated looking system on her laptop. Piper was still thinking about her conversation with Jason. They had parted ways when they'd reached the changing rooms and he had asked for her number, fortunately Piper only had to pull her phone free of her new shorts pocket and not her sports bra where she usually stashed it while running. But she was running their conversation over in her head and something stuck.

'Annabeth,' she said.

'Hm?' she replied, not looking away from the screen.

'I met Jason today.'

This did make Annabeth turn to look at her. 'You hadn't met Jason before today?'

'Not properly. But anyway, he said something that I can't… I can't figure out.'

Annabeth's eyebrows pushed together. 'Oh?'

'He said that Miss whatsherface, the librarian—'

'Miss Mahey.'

'Yeah. He said that she wouldn't dare kick him out of the library. And it sounded like… I don't know, it sounded like there was something behind that.'

Annabeth turned around in her chair, causing Piper's legs to fall off. She pulled them up and sat cross-legged on the bed as she waited for Annabeth to answer. Annabeth, meanwhile, crunched on the Jolly Rancher she'd been sucking for the past minute, and narrowed her eyes.

She looked momentarily like she might not share. But eventually, she sighed, and did.

'Jason's parents donated that library to the school.'

'Donated?'

'They paid to have it built.'

Piper rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored Annabeth's patronising tone. 'The whole building?'

Annabeth nodded.

'Jeez, how much money do they have?'

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her. 'Says the daughter of Tristan McLean.'

Piper narrowed her eyes playfully. 'That's classified information, remember.'

'People will find out sooner or later.'

'Yes well, I'd rather it was later. And besides, just 'cause they got the money something must have made them decide to splash it like that.'

Annabeth said nothing, but her whole face tightened, from her pursed lips to her furrowed brow, she became closed off. This was a story she was not willing to share. it only made Piper more intrigued, but she didn't want to invade upon Jason's privacy so she dropped it, and brought up their ongoing debate over Star Trek and Star Wars in an attempt to keep Annabeth's attention away from her computer screen.

* * *

_Monday 21st September 2009_

PERCY decided pretty early on into his first term that there were only three things he enjoyed about Moncada Boarding School.

The first was the extra hour he got in bed and the fancy coffee machine in the cafeteria that all made his mornings that much sweeter. The second, was the impeccably built and completely unused park behind the tennis courts, with its low sweeping 'benches' and abstract stone sculptures built into the solid earth, it was the perfect place for him, Piper and Leo to spend their lunchtimes. Frank often joined them as well, and they had even managed to get the kid on a board for ten seconds, before he fell off and grazed his chin pretty badly. Leo had chucked him on the arm and called it a war wound, Piper had kindly told him it made him look very attractive (it didn't) and Percy had showed him the tooth he'd chipped two years ago from a jump gone wrong (the one his mother still did not know about).

And the third, wonderful thing, was the blonde-haired brilliance of Annabeth Chase. Whose name he had only found out from Piper, who just happened to be her roommate. And whose first, and only real, impression of Percy remained to be him snorting milk out of his nose in the cafeteria as Piper and Leo stuffed straws into their noses and moaned like dying walruses. Annabeth had stood next their table with her hair perfectly braided and her uniform perfectly ironed and tucked in and her arms holding folders to her chest, eyebrows raised as she waited for Piper to pull the straws out of her nose and answer her question about meeting in the girls changing rooms for track practice. She had spared Leo and Percy a straight-mouthed look before turning away from their table and walking away. Percy had stared until she left through the cafeteria doors and Leo had thrown his taco shell at him.

They had shared multiple other almost-encounters in the chemistry, world history and phys ed classes they had together. He sat behind her in world history and last week her chair trapped his bag for the entire period, meaning that he couldn't take his pen out to get a single note down; but the prospect of getting her attention in some way was far too daunting to consider. Another time they had an awkward in-each-other's-way dance in the doorway to a classroom, which was only resolved when her tall blond-haired male - he begrudged that detail - friend appeared and gave him a polite smile before tugging her away and muttering about something about a girl in the woods. And perhaps the most unfortunate almost encounters have been at their respective lockers, which just happen to be on top of each other. As he heaved books from the high locker and she waited for him to finish, instead of apologising or achieving the great and formidable task of opening his mouth and speaking to her, Percy smiled awkwardly and shuffled away, usually forgetting whatever he actually went into his locker for in the first place.

So he entered chemistry class on Monday morning, having woken up only fifteen minutes previously, immediately dropped his head onto his forearms on the oak topped bench, and wondered with some trepidation what encounter there would be today. The class filled noisily around him as he dozed on the bench. Other than Frank, he hadn't made an effort to make new friends. It was mostly down to the fact that he felt a thousand miles away from these kids. What were they supposed to talk about? His part-time job in a diner, the tiny house he and his mom lived in and the mansions they lived in?

The thing is, Piper had grown up with that very same extravagance, he and Leo had seen it first hand. But she had always been Piper. She had always been making mud pies with them and colouring in her sneakers with sharpie. He had never once felt a gap created by Piper's wealth. But none of these kids were like Piper. They cared about reputation and social standing. It was like being in the middle ages. He half expected the teachers to start beheading students for misbehaving - or whatever they did in the middle ages.

'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,' their teacher, Dr Bowman announced, effectively hushing the classroom chatter. 'Mr Jackson, if you would so kindly wake up so that I can begin.'

Percy sat up, rubbing his face and ignoring the students who turned around to snigger as he retrieved his book and pencil case from his bag before stowing it under the desk. Dr Bowman began calling the register and it was only then, when Bowman reached her name and she responded with avery clear 'Present, miss.' that Percy realised Annabeth Chase was sitting next to him.

She noticed his staring and looked at him, offering a small slightly-creeped-out smile. He looked back at his pencil case and pulled out his favourite pen, turning it over between his fingers and praying that his face wasn't as red as it felt. Honestly, as if she was sitting next to him. Why was she sitting next to him? Where was her annoying blond male friend? And more importantly, did he have any gum in his bag?

All of a sudden, Annabeth poked his arm. Percy jumped in his seat and looked at her, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. She jerked her head towards the front of the class and whispered, 'That's you right?' as Dr Bowman called his name impatiently, for probably the second or third time.

'Yeah,' Percy blurted out.

Dr Bowman raised her eyebrows. 'Pardon?'

Percy blinked. 'Um. Present. Miss.'

'Hm.' She returned to her register with pursed lips.

When she was finished, she went to her computer and fiddled around until a powerpoint presentation was being projected onto the board behind her. Dr Bowman loved powerpoint presentations, Percy figured she must spend hours each night animating every sentence and all the weird little pictures on the slides. As she clicked and the title for this lesson came up, spinning onto screen letter by letter, Percy's heart sunk.

_Term Project, to be conducted in pairs,_ it said.

'I'm going to make this simple,' Bowman announced, 'your partner for the rest of the term will be the person sat next to you. No switching, no complaining.'

On their bench, to his right were sat two more students who immediately turned to each other and did that weird finger pointing thing to indicate that they would partner up (like they had a choice). Which left him with the only other person on the bench, Annabeth.

She didn't look disappointed, which was a plus, but she didn't exactly look over the moon either. as Bowman took them through an animated lecture of what the project consisted of: lab experiments to be carried out during the course of their lessons and recorded in detail and full analysed reports of their findings to be typed up in their own time, Percy tried to focus on taking down notes without glancing her way too often.

When eventually, they were instructed to begin, Annabeth was all business.

'If you get the filter paper and the dish, I'll get the potassium sulphate.'

'Okay.'

And she was off, walking briskly to the back of the class to get to the front of the queue for the chemicals. Percy shook his head and went to retrieve his own materials. When he returned, Annabeth had already set aside their belongings and was setting up the bunsen burner. She looked up when he deposited the paper and dish on the bench and smiled.

'Here, I got you safety glasses.'

'Oh, thanks.'

Annabeth nodded, still smiling, and pushed her own up her nose. She reached back to twist her hair up in a bun and secured it with a pencil. Percy didn't know how she made a lab coat and safety glasses look good, but she really did. He was grateful for the glasses; far smaller and safer looking than the clunky goggles they used to be subjected to wearing at East Summers, a few of which had holes in - the very same ones that Leo always seemed to pick out for Percy and Piper.

They worked in relative silence for the rest of the class. the experiment required most of their concentration and Percy was trying to get down as many notes as possible. As it happened, they were the first pair to finish and by the time Bowman called the class' attention to set homework, Percy and Annabeth's desk was already clear but for their books as other students hurried around putting chemicals away and washing their hands.

'You are to begin your term report,' Bowman said, apparently not noticing that many of her students were in no way ready to take down notes as they rushed around the classroom. 'In no less that eight hundred words You will type up this experiment using the template I have provided. Next lesson I will take them in, mark them and return them to you for you to use as a guideline for your full report. Dismissed.'

The bell rang and Percy hurried to stuff his belongings into his bag as Annabeth collectively packed her own bag and stood to leave. He caught her up at the door.

'Uh, so we should meet up, right?'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows.

'To do the report?' he said.

'Right.' she shook her head and reached inside her bag. She pulled out a black diary and flicked through the pages to assess the brightly coloured timetable she had stuck into the back. 'Our next lesson is Thursday, so can we get together tomorrow?'

'Um.' Percy delved into his bag to find his own timetable. They both shuffled out of the way of the door as fellow students began filing out into the hall and Annabeth bit her lip and waited for him. 'Yeah,' he said, 'I have study third period.'

'Same.' She smiled at him. 'Convenient. I'll see you in the library then. I got to go, I've got algebra and Snitch will kill me if I'm late.'

'Okay. See you later.'

She was already walking away from him, folding her diary back into her bag as she expertly navigated through the mass of students. Percy stared until her blonde hair was completely out of sight, and then he looked down at his timetable.

'Shit!'

He had Spanish class on the other side of campus. He hastily shoved his timetable back into his bag and shoved his way through the sea of students in a manner far less graceful than Annabeth had done.

* * *

i hope y'all like jasper

if you're wondering how many POVs you're going to get, i have no answer for you. except that i want to include as many as possible and i'm afraid you will have to get used to me putting more than one into each chapter :)

The chapter title is from Spit It Out by the Maccabees

until next Thursday xoxo


	4. Rest Your Head On My Shoulder

_Rest your head on my shoulder, And I'll take care of your worries_

_It was you who promised this to me, It was you who offered me courage_

* * *

_Sunday 1st October 2009_

OCTOBER brought with it the premature beginning of winter. Chasing away the lounging students on the campus lawns and encouraging tights and jackets to be worn with the usual uniform. Annabeth begrudged the overcast sky and the howling wind at her bedroom window each night. She was a summer person. She loved ice cream and sunbathing and wearing shorts. Wrapping up in scarves and jackets and building snowmen did not appeal to her remotely.

The WASPS Charity dinner held on the last weekend of September had gone down with all the smoothness expected of a party organised by the Moncada school committee and the ladies of the East Summer's committee. Every detail was pristine, and the guests - consisting of the school board, teachers, the parents of students and a few fortunate students themselves - had all assured Annabeth upon leaving the do that they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves. And they had proved it further by collectively donating $35,000. Only such a sum was so easily surmountable by such a wealthy group of people who, when gathered together at such an event as this, liked to show off their wealth like peacocks showing their feathers. Annabeth wondered how many of them had even cared to take note of what charity their money was being donated to.

At around 3am, when the stragglers had all left and the hall was finally cleared, Annabeth locked up and went back with Jason to his house - it was a Saturday night - and after helping him put his mother to bed, she had collapsed fully-clothed onto his enormous bed. She had woken the next morning on top of the covers, still wearing her party dress with her hair an impossible mess, to see Jason sleeping on the long couch against one wall of the room. She had showered and dressed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she had previously left at his house to be folded away in his closet by an efficient maid before Jason stirred. He sat up on the couch in his rumpled white shirt and black trousers and rubbed his face.

'Coffee?' she greeted him, offering the steaming cup.

Jason wrapped his fingers around the ceramic and sipped, humming appreciatively.

'Time is it?' he mumbled.

'Just gone eleven.'

His eyes widened. 'Damn.' He then appraised her washed and dressed state with a small frown. 'You seen my parents this morning?'

Annabeth shook her head. 'Zofia told me your dad's gone golfing with some fellow executives and your mom's still in bed.'

'Right.' He rubbed his face again, looking tired.

It was a heavier tiredness than simply lack of sleep; it pressed down on his shoulders and contorted his face to that of an old man burdened with a lifetime of worries.

'Hey,' Annabeth said gently, sitting next to him on the couch and bumping his shoulder with her own, 'why don't we play today? It's been forever.'

It was true; Annabeth had yet to lift a piano lid since school had started and she knew his violin case lay unopened in his dorm back at Moncada; fortunately the music room in his house held spares of their instruments. Jason tilted his head to smile at her gratefully. Annabeth wished she could fix that smile in place forever.

* * *

_Thursday, 22nd October 2009_

And so October came around with somewhat brutal force, reminding them that school would only be getting more strenuous as they went on. Annabeth was launched right back into the committee with organising the mid-October debate rally which would be hosted at Moncada, the votings for school president and other duties, and of course the annual Halloween ball which also acted as a traditionally belated homecoming dance. She was starting to get so bogged down with it all that she was positively hopping in the changing rooms on Thursday afternoon.

'What are you bouncing up and down for?' Piper muttered as she laced up her sneakers. 'You realise is like 40 degrees out there right?'

Annabeth pulled on her grey sweatshirt bearing the school emblem and grinned at her friend as Piper rubbed the goose-pebbled flesh of her thighs.

'I need to let off some steam.'

'Does this mean you'll be leaving me in the dirt again? Or are you actually going to accompany me for once in this goddamn extra-curricular activity you made me join.'

Annabeth suppressed another grin at Piper's grumbling. 'Haven't heard you complain until now. This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Jason is skiving this session would it?'

'What? No.'

'Sure,' she said, unconvinced as Piper blushed scarlet.

'Shut up,' she said, punching Annabeth's shoulder as she left the changing rooms.

Annabeth laughed. 'I would have thought you'd be getting enough him now that we're all eating lunch together.'

Piper muttered something about Percy and Leo and _dumb bromance getting in the way_ and Ananbeth decided not to push the matter any further.

Mercifully, it wasn't raining outside. But the weather was still grim as their group stretched in the courtyard next to the basketball courts.

'Lanes today, cupcakes,' Coach Hedge instructed them with poorly hidden glee. 'Off you go and you might beat the rain.'

'I'd like to see his pudgy butt run around these lanes and him still be that cheerful,' Piper muttered as they set off towards the gate.

Coach Hedge did not run with the team, instead he drove behind them in a golf buggy and bellowed what he must have thought were motivating insults at them through his little megaphone. He couldn't drive through the woods, so the lanes were always a bit more of a challenge for the students - though more entertaining too.

'So,' Piper said once they were jogging along at a steady pace, 'how's your assignment with Percy going? Has he driven you insane yet?

Annabeth huffed out a laugh. 'No, he's okay. Though he a little… slow. I mean, I asked him to read a page of a textbook the other day and it took him forever. I don't know, he just comes across as kind of dumb sometimes, I'm not really sure how he's in my class.'

Piper scoffed and gave her a look like _are you serious?_

'What? Annabeth asked defensively.

'Dude. He's dyslexic.'

Annabeth gaped at her. 'Oh, fuck.'

'I thought you knew that.'

'No! Oh my god, I've been such an asshole to him. Why didn't you tell me?'

'I thought you knew!' Piper exclaimed.

Annabeth cursed herself for her ignorance. Of course she should have figured that out; she was dyslexic herself after all. She had always prided herself on being observant. But she had been too biased about Percy to even consider that he might have an actual problem hindering his learning and that he wasn't just lazy or unmotivated. Alright, perhaps he was one of those things sometimes. But the fact remained that she needed to cut him some slack.

She resolved to do just that as Coach's gold buggy came squeaking around the corner and his megaphone amplified voice barked at them.

'Come on you spindle-legged slowpokes, I could run faster than that with my pants around my ankles.'

'I'd like to see that,' Piper muttered darkly.

* * *

_Friday, 23rd October 2009_

It was fortunate for Annabeth that she and Percy had arranged a study period the very next day. Though, for one of the very few times in her life, she was running late. She cursed Mr Brunner - with whom she usually got on well - for choosing today to keep her behind and discuss her extra credit work. But after ten minutes of unsubtle hints and edging towards the door, she was finally released and wasted no time in hitching her bag up on her shoulder and running down the empty hall towards the library.

When she finally arrived, panting, her eyes roamed the desk spaces for a head of black hair. She saw him hunched over next to one of the school computers, scribbling on a notepad. He looked as unkempt as he had every other time she'd seen him. Annabeth had never known someone to manage to make the Moncada school uniform look messy, but Percy Jackson managed it. His grey jacket was slung over the back of his chair and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up past his elbows, cuffs hanging out and stained with ink and what looked like blood. His tie was perpetually loose around his rumpled collar and the top button of his shirt was never done up, nor was the hem tucked into his black trousers. His shoes - not the required black or brown loafers - were black and white converses on the verge of falling off his feet with the amount of wear they showed.

Annabeth cleared her throat as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

'Sorry I'm late,' she said by way of greeting.

Percy looked up, blinking, and not-so-subtly covered the page he'd been scribbling on with his hand.

'Don't worry about it.'

She threw him a smile as he logged onto the computer and tried to think of a way to bring up the dyslexia thing without being obnoxious about it. She had racked her brains all through World History and had come up with five carefully constructed plans. But now that she was sitting next to him, they all shrank away from her, seeming pitiful and too formal in her mind. Perhaps it was just better left unsaid.

'Hey, what's with your timetable,' Percy asked abruptly, causing her to pause in her action of flipping through her diary.

'Um, what's wrong with it?'

'No.' He shook his head. 'I mean, what's with the technicolour?'

She looked down at the piece of paper taped into her diary and realised what he meant. 'Oh,' she said, 'it's just colour-coordinated. So that I can look at it and know right away what class I have.'

'Huh. That's a pretty good idea,' he pondered.

'It makes it easier for me,' Annabeth went on, seizing her opportunity, 'because of my dyslexia.'

Percy stared at her. 'You're dyslexic?'

She nodded.

'But you're like… a genius!' he spluttered. 'You're a straight-A student!'

She shrugged. 'I work hard.'

He was still staring at her with an expression of mixed disbelief and admiration. Annabeth tried not to let that go to her head too much as she felt her ears get very warm.

'It's all about how you study,' she explained, 'I record most of our classes and upload them onto my laptop so I can listen back to them. I use a lot of my coloured pens which helps me organise things. And you know Mr Blofis, the English teacher?' Percy nodded. 'He's really helped me out. Mr Brunner too. I'm sure they'd both be glad to help you if you asked.'

Percy looked down at his doodled page. 'You know I'm dyslexic then?'

'Piper told me,' she admitted and caught his eye roll. 'Listen,' she went on earnestly, 'I'm sorry. I didn't know before and I was kind of a jerk to you. And, well, it's no excuse, me not knowing, I shouldn't have been like that with you.'

He blinked at her and, after a moment, he nodded. 'That's okay.'

She sighed in relief. 'Good. Okay we should get on with this now.'

'Wait, aren't you going to help me colour my timetable? To make up for being such a jerk.'

He was holding back a fat smile, even as she narrowed her eyes at him. His eyes positively twinkled.

'I apologised.'

'I know. But you hurt my feelings. And well - it was no excuse, you not knowing...'

Annabeth couldn't help it, she laughed. She considered him for a moment, the weight of their deadline hanging in her mind against the pleading tug of his smile.

In the end, she caved. 'Oh go on then, I'm not really in the mood to discuss sodium phosphate crystals.'

'Who ever is?'

'I bet Dr Bowman is.'

Percy rolled his eyes as he picked up his jacket and they abandoned the computer for one of the large oak tables in the room.

'I bet she dreams about ionic substances at night. They probably make her toes curl with excitement.'

'Gross.'

He grinned at her.

Five minutes later, they were sprawled out at the end of a table. Percy had his feet propped up on one of the chairs as Annabeth pulled hers up and folded her legs like she was about to do some yoga. The table was covered with a multitude of highlighters and felt-tip pens.

'Who even carries this much stationary with them?' Percy muttered, pulling the top off a green felt tip as he started to colour in the Biology slots in his timetable.

'I do,' she said defensively. 'And who only carries one pen?'

He picked up said pen and frowned at her as he flicked it between his fingers.

'This is a good pen. I've had it since sixth grade.'

'You're kidding me.'

He shook his head with a smug little smile.

'And it's never run out of ink?'

'Ah.' His smug expression was replaced with a sheepish one. 'Well, I sort of replace it with the ink from other pens.'

'Why don't you just replace the whole pen? Instead of going to all that effort.'

He shrugged. 'Guess I'm kind of attached to this one. Besides, I usually steal the ink from Piper's or Leo's. Drives them both crazy.'

Annabeth was about to call him out on getting attached to a pen. But then her hand went to her chest and her fingers curled around the small silver ring that hung there on a thin chain. And she remembered that people have their own reasons for becoming attached to things, however seemingly ordinary the thing may be. They have their own stories, and hold their own memories.

When Annabeth returned her attention to Percy, she very quickly came to the conclusion that was being particularly picky about which colours he was using for each subject. Unreasonably so in her opinion.

'Just pick a colour,' she said, exasperated. 'It doesn't matter.'

'Of course it matters. I want to be able to recognise it straight away.'

'Alright, so...' She tugged his timetable towards her and scrutinised it. 'World History, what colour? Blue?'

'Nah, I'm saving blue for my favourite subject.'

'Why?'

''Cause it's my favourite colour.'

'Of course it is,' she muttered. 'Okay, so what's your favourite subject?'

'Hm.' He scratched his chin with his beloved pen and Annabeth held back a groan of frustration. 'phys. ed.?'

'Is that a question?'

He looked up at her through those stupidly thick eyelashes and smiled. 'No,' he said, tugging the paper back towards himself and colouring in the phys. ed. slots with her blue felt-tip. Annabeth watched him colouring in the rectangles, poking his tongue out between his lips as he frowned at the page.

'You know, Piper was saying that I should come by your diner some time.'

Percy stopped colouring rather abruptly and stared at her. 'W-what?'

She smiled. 'Don't look so terrified. I promise I'll give you fair warning.'

He didn't look comforted by this. He shifted in his seat.

"Uh, okay. I'll make sure to bring out the finest silver."

His tone was joking but Annabeth heard an edge to it.

* * *

Piper lay sprawled across Leo's bed, tossing a tennis ball above her head and catching it again as Leo rummaged around at his desk. She had found the ball amongst a pile next to the door and hadn't bothered asking why Leo was collecting tennis balls. By now, she knew better than to ask.

Night had fallen outside, causing their source of light to be the little lamp on Leo's desk and the slanting yellow light of the streetlamps in the courtyard outside.

'Did you work yesterday?' Piper asked of Leo, her eyes trained on the ball as she threw it in the air.

Leo's voice was muffled by the screwdriver in his mouth. 'Yeah. Evenin' shift.'

'You see your mom?'

His voice became clear as he removed the screwdriver from between his teeth and used it to tighten a screw in the small contraption in his hands. 'Yeah. She's keepin' busy. You know what she's like, I recon' she's a little lonely without us there but she's hiding it pretty well. Said she's glad to get us out from under her feet.'

Piper snorted. 'I bet she is.'

Leo ignored her comment. 'Hey, have you heard from your dad?' he asked in a tone which was forced into being casual.

Piper caught the tennis ball and slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows, narrowing her eyes at Leo as he pointedly avoided her stare. 'No,' she said. 'Why do you ask?'

'No reason.'

'Leo.'

He looked up from his tinkering and winced at her expression. 'Pipes-'

'Cut the bullshit. What's up?'

He heaved a great sigh and leaned precariously off his chair to reach under his bed with one hand. He rummaged around for a moment and then produced a glossy magazine. Piper sat up properly as he tossed it onto the mattress.

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'Didn't know you were into trashy mags now.'

'Just read it,' he muttered, eyes on his contraption again.

Piper eyed him as she tugged the magazine towards herself and looked down at its glossy cover. It took her precisely three seconds to find what Leo was dancing around, and another half second for her stomach to plummet through the floor.

Underneath the slightly blurry image of a woman in a scanty dress climbing out of a dark car was a photograph of a man and woman walking along a beach, their arms wound around one another as they pressed together in a highly un-platonic way. Piper had no idea who the tanned brunette twenty-something woman was, but she recognised the man instantly, without the need of the caption across their legs.

_**Tristan McLean's new beau on the beach.**_

Blood roared in her ears. 'What,' she said very slowly, 'the fuck?'

Leo winced even as he avoided her incredulous stare, flicking between the magazine cover and his face.

'It doesn't say all that much about them,' he offered. 'Something about an inside source saying they got cushy when they met filming a movie. But you know inside sources are full of crap.'

'I don't care.' She tore open the magazine to page twelve for the full story. 'I don't even care.' She enunciated each word aggressively as she turned each page.

On page twelve she found three more candids of the couple and a block of text. Piper felt a jolt of shock go through her as she looked at one of the images and saw her father and the woman carrying longboards into the water. Surfing used to be their thing, one of the only activities they did together. Now apparently he reserved it for his girlfriends, just like the rest of his time.

She scanned the text and discovered that the couple had been seeing each other since they met on set in April.

_April._

Piper put the magazine down just as a knock sounded at the door.

'Come in,' Leo said before Piper could begin to compose herself.

A crown of black hair appeared through the door and in walked Percy, still in his uniform. He dropped his bag on the floor next to the door and threw himself onto the bed. He caught sight of the magazine and frowned at Leo.

'Thought we were gonna tell her together?'

'You were late.' Leo shrugged. 'Where've you been anyway?'

'Hanging with Frank. You should have waited for me.'

'I couldn't help it. She was looking at me with scary eyes.'

'You're such a pussy.'

'You guys know I'm still here right?' Piper interrupted, irritated. 'What the hell is wrong with you two?'

Both boys looked abashed. Leo abandoned his now whirring contraption and Percy picked at a loose thread of his trousers.

'Leighton confiscated it from Lucy Belk in physics,' Leo confessed. 'and I saw the front cover so I snatched it when he wasn't looking.'

'And what?' Piper snapped. 'You decided to have a group meeting about whether to tell me or not? What am I, twelve?'

'Piper come on,' Percy pleaded, looking up at her with those annoying big eyes. 'We just didn't know how to tell you.'

Piper looked between their faces, feeling her anger subside. _Feel bad for us,_ their expressions said, _we're useless boys who don't have a clue how to behave._ But they were just trying to look out for her, as usual.

'You guys are idiots,' she said eventually.

Leo grinned, knowing he'd been granted forgiveness, and began fiddling with his contraption again. Percy was a little more hesitant, watching her carefully as she swiped the magazine off the bed and it landed on the floor with a dull slap on the wood.

'You okay?' he asked quietly, almost a whisper.

Piper was shaking her head before she realised what she was doing. She shuffled on the bed and sat next to Percy, tipping her head against the wall to stop its movement.

'Tell me,' she said quietly, 'what it's like to have a parent that actually gives a shit about you.'

Percy sighed and lifted his arm to put around her shoulders, tugging her gently to his side. 'You know what it's like, Pipes. My mom and Leo's are as good as yours. None of us have the dad thing going for us, but who needs them?'

'Yeah,' Leo piped up. 'You got us. What more do you need?'

And as Piper looked at Leo's grinning face and felt Percy's warmth next to her, she couldn't help but agree with them. What more did she need when she had them looking out for her? Her two idiotic boys.

'Anyway,' Leo said, 'I propose a bonfire. Burning it will release your anger.'

'Are you sure you're not an arsonist?' Percy asked.

* * *

'Will you hurry up, it's freezing out here,' Piper grumbled, stamping her feet on the hard ground.

'I might remind you that this is for your benefit,' Percy called back to her. 'And are you guys sure this is a good idea? Someone could see us.'

Leo scowled at him as he opened a box of matches. 'When did you become such a creep? You're hanging out with that girl too much.'

'Shut up.'

Piper stepped closer and tucked her arm through Percy's as Leo struck a match and held it to the corner of the magazine, letting the fire spread before dropping it into the metal trash can. The three of them huddled together like homeless people and watched the flames rise against the pitch black sky.

'You feel any better?' Leo asked after a few minutes of watching the paper burn and shrivel.

Piper sighed. 'I don't know. It doesn't actually make it go away, does it? We're just burning a few bits of paper.'

'Well I'm glad we risked our asses for detention then.'

'Thought you didn't care about detention,' Percy shot back just as a blaring light flew at their backs.

The three of them spun around and came face to face with two torch beams shining directly in their faces. And just when Piper started to think about bolting, an all too familiar voice came blaring through a megaphone.

'Don't even think about it, cupcakes!'

'Ah, shit,' Leo muttered to her left.

* * *

_Saturday, 24th October 2009_

There was this tactic that teachers used to reprimand their students without looking like the bad guys. They said, _'I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed'_ and it made Percy feel like crap in about three seconds. He could deal with yelling and detention and punishment. But as soon as someone told him he let them down he wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out for a long long time.

Unfortunately, Sally Jackson seemed to be channeling her inner teacher as she paced the small space in front of where he sat on the plastic chair in the hall outside the principal's office. With her arms crossed over her chest, she would glance at her son every time she changed direction and Percy felt another stab of guilt go through him.

'I'm sorry okay!' he burst out eventually.

She stopped and leant back against the wall opposite him, still towering above and making him feel more like a child than he did when he stood and was an inch taller than her.

'I thought this school was going to be different,' she said and her voice was sad, disappointed.

His head dropped. 'I know. I'm trying, mom.'

He heard her step away from the wall and then she was kneeling in front of him, one hand on his knee, the other coaxing his chin up.

'I know you are, sweetheart. But you have to remember that this school isn't like East Summers, you won't be forgiven nearly as easily for things like this.'

'Do you forgive me?' he asked, for that's what was important to him.

She smiled one of her smiles just for him. 'I suppose so.'

The door opened behind her and she straightened up, brushing her jeans down and tucking her hair behind her ears hurriedly. Percy scowled, he hated that this school made her feel like she wasn't good enough. The principal stood there as Leo and Esperanza walked out of the office, both heavily scowling and looking so familiar that Percy wanted to laugh.

'Mrs Jackson,' the principal said stoutly, 'and Percy, you can come in now.'

'It's just Miss,' Sally said as she crossed to the door and held out her hand. Percy hated the way she said just. Like it wasn't enough.

'Right,' he said, closing the door behind Percy. 'As you may have worked out, I am the Principal here at Moncada. You may call me Mr. D. Please sit down.' He crossed the room and settled into his creaky leather chair behind the wide oak desk, staring at both of them in turn. 'I called you in, Miss Jackson to discuss the activities which your son was involved with last night.'

'Of course,' she replied politely, nodding for him to continue.

He cleared his throat heavily and pursed his lips. 'Moncada School has no tolerance for criminal behaviour-'

_'Criminal behaviour?' _Percy burst out. 'It was one magazine, not a building.'

'Percy,' Sally whispered harshly as Mr D.'s eyes bugged.

'Young man, you and your friends started a fire in a bin on campus. You had no equipment which would aid you in quelling that fire if it had spread-'

'It wasn't going to spread!'

'Percy!' Sally exclaimed, louder this time.

'Mr Jackson, you are not helping your case,' the Principal thundered. 'You and your friends have already earned three weeks detention, and you are well on your way to a suspension from school.'

'That won't be necessary,' Sally pleaded before Percy could retort. 'Mr D., Percy is a good student. And I can promise you that this is a one time thing and he will not cause any more trouble. He will carry out his punishment without complaint and repair any damage done to school property.'

Percy clenched his teeth together to stop another outburst.

Mr D. scrutinised him from his leather chair, hands folded over his paunchy belly. He eventually spoke in a slow voice, 'Very well. Thank you for your time, Miss Jackson.' He stood and crossed to the door, Percy and Sally rose from their seats and followed him. 'I will just speak with Miss McLean now.'

Sally turned to him as he placed his hand on the door handle. 'If you need a parent to stay with Piper, I would be more than happy to-'

'That wont be necessary. She already has a parent here.'

'She does?' Percy said as Mr D. pulled the door open.

'Tristan!' Sally exclaimed.

The man standing on the other side of the door was tall and overly handsome with wide shoulders and a large chest. He smiled graciously at Sally and tipped his head like an old fashioned gentleman.

'It's lovely to see you again, Sally.'

Percy looked around Mr McLean to see his daughter standing against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, glaring furiously in the other direction. Mr D. cleared his throat and invited the McLeans into the office before any further conversation could pass between the two parents. Percy tried to catch Piper's eye as they passed each other but she was staring at the floor, jaw clenched, fingers curled into fists.

As soon as the door closed, Percy turned to his mother. 'Did you know he was in town?'

'Did it look like I did?' she asked him with some degree of exasperation.

'What the hell is he doing here?'

'Language,' she berated half-heartedly. 'Anyway, I need to get back to the shop.' She took him by the shoulders and stared him down. '_Please_ behave yourself. I don't want any more visits to this office, alright?'

He nodded. 'Okay, mom.'

Her face softened and she smiled, reaching up to kiss his cheek. 'Bye, sweetheart.'

She released him and walked down the hall towards the stairs, passing Leo as she went. 'Bye, honey.'

'See ya, Miss J.'

Leo closed in on Percy almost immediately. 'She's gonna be pissed,' he muttered and Percy didn't have to ask who he was talking about.

'She already is,' he said. 'I can't believe he turned up. Isn't he supposed to be in Miami?'

Leo shrugged. 'I guess that doesn't matter when you've got a private jet.'

Mr D. was apparently unabashed by Tristan McLean's movie star status as he was just as brisk with the McLeans as he had been with Percy and his mother. Percy and Leo skulked at the end of the hall as Tristan and Piper left the office. Percy wondered if Piper had listened to a word of Mr D.'s berating because her expression didn't look as if it had changed from before she went into the office. Her jaw was clenched, eyes trained on the floor, fists stuffed into her pockets.

Tristan stopped and turned to his daughter. 'Piper- Pipes.' His voice was beseeching. 'Look, I don't have much time.'

Percy and Leo winced in sympathy. 'Jackass,' Leo muttered under his breath.

Hurt registered across Piper's face and she finally looked up at her father. And now he was the one avoiding her gaze. Piper seemed to wither before him, shoulders hunching, arms wrapping around herself for protection. Percy felt an almost overwhelming urge to step between her and Tristan.

'It's fine, dad,' she muttered, sounding defeated, no longer so angry. 'Sorry for dragging you out here.'

'Piper.' Tristan hesitantly lifted his hands to his daughter's shoulders.

Piper froze, and then she stumbled forward and wrapped her arms around her father, hiding her face in his chest. Percy watched as Tristan hugged his daughter and for a moment he forgot that he sort of hated the guy.

Eventually, the two separated and Tristan kissed Piper on the head before walking down the hall towards Leo and Percy, who had neither the time or wit to go unnoticed. He nodded stiffly at the boys and carried on walking. they watched him go for a moment before turning to Piper.

'Hey guys.' She tried for a smile.

'If it makes you feel any better,' Leo piped up. 'My mom said I'm banned from the workshop for a month.'

Piper winced sympathetically but shook her head. 'She'll give in by next week.'

Percy was still staring at her. 'Why didn't you yell at him?'

She looked up at him and shrugged. 'What would be the point? It's not like he was sticking around long enough to explain himself. I just hope he gets out of here before anyone sees him - I don't think it would take much for people to figure out he's my dad once they see him walking around campus.'

'Nah, he'll be long gone before-'

Leo was interrupted by a shrill scream down the hall. The three of them peered around the corner to see a group of girls. One of them was speaking in a giddy sprint of words; Percy wondered how her friends could understand a word she was saying. But then he listened closer.

'I can't believe it, maybe he's friends with someone's parents or something. I can't believe he would have a kid here-'

'Blake,' one of her friends interrupted, 'just say who you saw.'

Blake straightened up with a smug gossip-loving grin on her face. She spoke clearly enough for Percy to hear without straining. 'Tristan McLean.'

Next to him, Piper dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

* * *

hope you enjoyed this chapter! a bit of jasabeth bromance and some teasing about jason's family... and of course piper's identity couldn't remain a secret for long. the lyrics at the beginning are from a song called Rest Your Head On My Shoulder by Seeker Lover Keeper.

let me know what you thought with a review or hop over to my tumblr (ananbeth) and leave me an ask :)

AFTER a discussion with Mari, I've decided that there won't be an update next week. partly because i'm a little behind and would like to get a couple of chapters pre-written ahead of what i'm posting AND partly because BOO is coming out next week and i think we're all going to be caught up in that quite a bit.

so, i hope you enjoy Blood of Olympus and we don't lose any of our beloved characters. remember to tag any spoilers you post on tumblr with BOO SPOILER so as not so ruin the fun for everyone else! see you in two weeks, folks xx


	5. This is Halloween, Everybody scream!

_Thursday, 29th October 2009_

IF there was one thing Hazel loved, it was Moncada school campus in Fall. The end of October brought crunchy brown leaves littering the lawns and paths between buildings and a cool wind carrying the promise of winter and snow. The prospect of trudging through crisp white snow reminded Hazel of the brief, yet wonderful, time she and her mother lived in Alaska; where the sky looked so impossibly bright and the air was so fresh and pure.

What she loved perhaps the most about this time of year was that hockey season was now upon them. In her freshman year, Hazel had found her niche within the Moncada girl's hockey team; they didn't seem to care about where she was from or who her parents were. They just cared about how well she could hit a concrete ball across asphalt. Which was, incidentally, pretty well. They started late this year, and when Tuesday rolled around, Hazel trooped down to the girl's changing rooms and changed into her kit.

She was just pulling her socks over her shin pads when Annabeth Chase walked in, dragging another girl literally by the arm.

'Oh hey, Hazel,' she said cheerily, releasing her friend. Hazel recognised her; she was Annabeth's roommate whom she'd never formally been introduced to.

Everyone in the school knew who Piper McLean was after her father – Tristan McLean – turned up for a disciplinary meeting. It was never blatantly said by either party that Tristan was actually her father, but to anyone with more than a single brain cell, the relationship was fairly obvious. Piper had not welcomed her new found fame with open arms. In fact, Hazel had witnessed her being pulled off one guy by her friends in the hall between classes two weeks ago.

Needless to say, Hazel thought it best not to bring up the topic of her father.

'Hello, Annabeth,' she said pleasantly. 'Um, you're Piper, right? Annabeth's roommate?'

Piper looked up and, after a moment of scrutinising, smiled and held her hand out. 'That's me.'

Hazel shook her hand. 'I'm Hazel.'

Recognition flickered in Piper's eyes and Hazel felt a ripple of trepidation. For a long time, she had been used to hearing the back end of whispers about her; of people keeping their distance. But Piper just carried on smiling like nothing was wrong, and started getting changed.

'Get ready to witness the worst hockey player in the world,' she said, throwing Annabeth a pointed look.

'You don't know that you'll be the worst until you've tried it,' Annabeth argued back calmly. Hazel got the feeling they'd already had this discussion.

Piper scoffed. 'I don't know why you have to keep dragging me along to these things; it's not like you don't have other friends.'

'Cross country season's finished now, we need another activity to keep us occupied—'

'How about sleeping? That occupies plenty of time.'

Annabeth ignored her. 'Hockey is awesome, you'll love it. Won't she, Hazel?'

'Oh yeah, it's the best.'

'Thank you, Hazel. There's nothing wrong with applying yourself at school, it all makes for a great CV in the future.'

Piper groaned. Hazel concealed a smile and left them to their conversation as her roommate ran into the changing rooms.

'You're late.'

Gwen started pulling her shirt over her head without undoing the buttons, consequentially getting it trapped around her head. 'Lost track of time. Who knew algebra could be so captivating. Ugh, help me will you?'

Hazel started undoing her friend's shirt buttons, pointedly avoiding looking at the bright pink bra she was wearing. It wasn't like she didn't see other girls in their underwear, but she was still more prudish about it than Gwen; who didn't seem to care either way who saw her without her clothes on.

'You fell asleep, didn't you?' Hazel guessed as she yanked the shirt over her friend's head.

Gwen had the decency to look bashful. 'Maybe a little bit. But honestly, who cares about quadratic equations, anyway?'

'You sound like one of my students,' Hazel noted as her friend hurried to change into her kit.

'I wish I was one of your students, I'm desperately in need of a tutor.'

'Math is not my strong point, sorry. But there are other tutors; you should sign up for one of them.'

'I asked Jason last week, but he's all booked up. Though that's hardly surprising.'

'Why's that,' Hazel asked.

Gwen looked up from fastening her shin pad to give her a disbelieving look. 'Oh boy, you are so innocent, Hazel Levesque.'

She felt herself blush. 'What do you mean?'

Gwen snorted. 'He's gorgeous. Everyone wants Jason Grace to tutor them.'

Hazel stared at her with raised eyebrows.

'What? Just cause I like the ladies, doesn't mean I can't appreciate a good looking guy.'

As they walked out of the changing rooms, carrying their sticks over their shoulders and a crate of hockey balls between them, Hazel noticed Piper McLean looking their way with a slight frown. But when she caught Hazel's eye, she smiled again, like nothing was wrong.

Out on the pitch, they were joined by twenty or so other girls and one of the female gym teachers - Miss Cawthorpe - who was already calling their attention for the warm up. Three laps around the pitch. Standard. Miss Cawthorpe looked like she was in her early twenties, but nobody knew her actual age. Most of the boys at Moncada were obsessed with her because she was the only female teacher below the age of forty five; which might explain why there were a few of them scattered around the pitch today, sprawled out on the grass despite the cold weather. She had a no nonsense approach which Hazel appreciated, and a Boston accent which only toughened her up.

It wasn't until she was two thirds of the way around the track and Piper drew her attention to a small cluster of boys outside the fence by yelling to them that Hazel realised she knew some of them.

'You're stalking me,' she shouted, coming to a stop with Annabeth at her side.

A black haired boy grinned at her over the fence. 'Just here to support our friend.' His eyes drifted towards Annabeth who was failing to hold back a smile. 'Hi, Annabeth.'

'Hello, Percy.'

Gwen had chosen that moment to stop and re-tie her shoelace, forcing Hazel to stop with her just within hearing shot of the group. The black-haired boy was talking to Piper again.

'What? We're not allowed to watch? There are bleachers right here, provided especially for this purpose.'

'You're so irritating.'

'Aw, come on, Pipes,' whined the shorter boy, the one Hazel had recognised. 'You love us.'

Piper just stared at them. Next to her, Annabeth was smiling, she tugged on her friend's arm. 'Come on, before Caw sees us.'

Piper sent her friends another look of death before jogging off again and leaving Hazel to run past the boys with Gwen at her side and a hope that Leo wouldn't recognise her. Unfortunately, he did.

'Oh, hey Hazel.'

She held back a grimace and avoided Gwen's raised eyebrow as they stopped again and she smiled at Leo.

'Hey.'

He was smiling, but his eyes wouldn't focus on her and he kept shifting his weight and fiddling with a loose thread in his shirt. She had gotten used to his restless energy over the past two weeks that she had been tutoring him, but she'd never seen him quite so awkward.

Percy seemed to sense his friend's unease. 'Hey, I'm Percy. And this is Frank.'

'Hi. This is Gwen,' she added after her friend unsubtly elbowed her.

She met Frank's eyes very briefly before looking away again. She knew his name from the attendance call in the few classes they shared, but they had never actually spoken. He was cute. She'd always thought so, and from what she'd heard him say, he seemed very sweet. Before any further awkward conversation could continue between them, Hazel tugged Gwen's arm.

'See you later,' she muttered, dragging her friend along as the boys erupted into conversation behind them.

'So,' Gwen hedged immediately, 'who was that?'

Hazel rolled her eyes. 'Leo Valdez. I tutor him in History and Geography.'

'And the cute one at the back?'

Hazel felt herself blush. 'Frank? Um, he's in a few of my classes.'

'I know. You've mentioned him before.'

Hazel looked over at her, opening her mouth to speak. But as she saw Gwen's smug smile, she decided to keep quiet and run faster, hoping to relieve some of her irritation during practice.

* * *

_Saturday 31st October 2009_

Hazel jogged into the Party House fifteen minutes later than she'd promised to be there, gripping chunky folders to her chest after her last tutoring session, and spotted Annabeth right away. She apologised for her tardiness as she deposited the folders onto a nearby table.

'Don't worry about it,' Annabeth said, glancing up from the sheet of paper in front of her. She was staring at it hard, squinting at the words and huffing in frustration.

'Here, let me read it out and you can check it off verbally,' Hazel offered.

Annabeth looked up from the checklist and, after a moment, sighed. She handed the clipboard with the piece of paper attached over to Hazel with a grateful smile. 'Thanks, Hazel.'

'No problem.' She scanned the list once - it was long - and started from the top, pencil ready in hand. 'Music.'

'The DJ booth is all set up, and DJ Frizzey-' She smiled sardonically and Hazel laughed quietly. '- Is due to start at eight and is booked until midnight at which time our delightful party will end and students will be asked to return to their dorms.'

Hazel smiled to herself and ticked off the first bullet on the list. 'Chaperones.'

'Mr Brunner, Mr Jays, and Caw have offered.'

'Tables.'

'Set up this morning.' She looked around the large hall. 'And are being decorated now by our lovely team of volunteers.' As she spoke, Hazel noticed that Piper, Jason, Percy, Leo and Frank were amongst those placing plates and glasses and carved pumpkins on the round tables dotted around the hall. Frank was adjusting a particularly enormous pumpkin on a table under Leo's exuberant orders.

With a jolt, Hazel realised Annabeth was looking at her, waiting for her to continue. She cleared her throat and returned to the list. 'Sorry. Food.'

She could have sworn she caught a smile on Annabeth's lips before she launched into the food preparations for tonight.

The Hallowe'en Ball was something of a strange tradition at Moncada. It was the school's first dance after the summer vacation and despite it being two months since the start of term, all the students celebrated like it was homecoming. The dress code was vaguely themed with a black and red colour scheme, but no-one bothered with costumes. Hazel had always thought that was a downfall for Moncada; it never seemed to want to have fun.

She had never enjoyed the ball hugely. Gwen had dragged her along both years and coaxed her onto the dance floor, and she had had fun. But she always got tired of it after a few hours and retired to her dorm before ten, choosing instead to wrap up in her bed and read a book. She thought fondly of The Night Circus sitting on her bedside table at that moment and found herself already looking forward to leaving the party early.

Annabeth's recital of the prepared decorations was abruptly interrupted by Leo and Percy walking over to them.

'We need to head out,' Percy said, 'work starts in fifteen minutes.'

'Oh.' Annabeth's voice held a note of disappointment. 'You won't be coming tonight?'

Percy elbowed Leo in the ribs as the shorter boy snickered and smiled apologetically at Annabeth. 'No, sorry.'

'Well, maybe I could come by the diner later?'

He blinked at her. 'You'd miss the party?'

She shrugged. 'When you spend so much time planning it, it's sort of difficult to enjoy it.'

'Oh, okay.' Percy visibly perked up and Hazel quelled a smile as she looked down at the checklist. 'Well, Piper was gonna come by after she showed her face here too so you could come with her. And you as well, Hazel.'

Hazel looked up and blinked at him, shocked by his consideration of her - by his remembering her name. 'Sure,' she said with a smile.

Percy grinned at them and sauntered off, smacking Leo upside the head as he undoubtedly teased him about being such a goofball. Annabeth took a moment to return to Hazel, looking extremely pleased with herself as they continued with the roll call.

* * *

Jason brushed down his shirt as he inspected his own reflection in the small mirror on the inside of his closet door. He had the dorm to himself as Leo was working tonight, it felt strange not to hear the other boy's constant talking or fidgeting or muffled explosions in the small room. He had grown rapidly used to having Leo as a dorm mate and a friend; the chaotic little guy was hilarious when he wanted to be, and he was a good friend. Just two months of hanging out had told him that much.

Before this year, Jason's only close friend had been Annabeth. The only guy friends he'd had before had been through the sports teams he was involved in and he had never been close to any of them. Even his previous dorm mates had been passing ships in the morning and evening. But Leo, Percy, and even Frank, had elbowed their way into his life and he found himself grateful of it. Grateful of the shared banter at mealtimes in the cafeteria and someone to appreciate how hot Caw was with him. Of course Annabeth was still his best friend, she always would be, but Jason embraced the change in their lives. He hadn't realised how secluded they'd made themselves over the years. He'd forgotten what it was like to make new friends.

He smoothed down the front of his blood red button down shirt and deemed himself respectable. He straightened his tie one last time and pulled on his black jacket before snapping the closet closed and grabbing his keys and wallet on the way out of the room. He made his way to the party house alone, passing couples and groups of girls as he walked across the grassy campus. Here and there, crisp leaves were swept into neat piles, ready to be collected by the groundskeeper in the morning. Jason mourned the crunch of those leaves underfoot; though he knew Annabeth resented the change that Fall brought, Jason had always loved it. The change of seasons brings deep colour to Moncada campus; oranges and browns and yellows which lay across the top of the trees like a vast colourful barrier against the heavy grey sky.

The sky was at twilight now, highlighting the array of candle lit and intricately carved lanterns lining the path towards the Party House doors. As Jason walked into the building, he admired his friend's work. As usual, Annabeth Chase had transformed the uniform reception area into a beautifully decorated feast for the eyes. The whole room was lit with an eerie orange light from the glowing lanterns and the dimmed lights. This is Hallowe'en seeped from the hidden speakers, just loud enough to be heard and send goosebumps shivering up Jason's arms. Guests roamed the place, admiring the decorations, having photos taken by the Shelob layer in the corner of the room, finding their tables and claiming chairs with bags and jackets. Tonight looked to be full of elegant horror.

It was a shame really, that Jason would miss most of it.

Annabeth appeared at his elbow, quiet as a ghost. Her dress added to the image; a pitch black number which fell to the floor in a sweeping pool around her feet. Her shoulders, chest, and back were covered with black lace; the material cinched at her waist, accentuating her athletic figure. Her eye makeup was smoky and so well done that Jason was pretty sure she didn't do it herself - maybe Piper lent a hand - and her hair was swept up into a chiffon. She wore small pearl earrings - a gift from her parents for her sixteenth birthday - and a small silver ring on a thin chain around her neck - the very one he had slid onto her finger when they were eight years old.

Jason had seen her made up for formal events countless times, but her beauty still made him double-take. He had always been impartial to it though; he recognised her good looks as a brother would.

He nudged her. 'Good job, Chase.'

She smiled. 'Thank you. I almost regret that we'll be missing most of it.'

At that moment, Lizbeth came barreling towards them through the slowly crowding room. She looked pretty incredible herself; wearing a bright red dress that stopped above her knees. But her expression, and the way she gripped her red clipboard in her hands made Jason uneasy.

'Almost,' Annabeth reiterated as the wild-eyed girl approached them.

'Annabeth, we're having major issues with the seating. Janet Wilson wants to change tables because she and Bolt broke up, so I switched her with Marie-Louise on the Rocky Horror table; which meant switching Ellen Gates and Polly Moore to another table because Polly and Marie-Louise do not get on but Polly won't go anywhere without Ellen and no one else on the table is even willing to move. But that means that our tables are unbalanced and I don't know who to switch.'

She took a breath and Annabeth dove in, tugging the clipboard out of Lizbeth's grip and inspecting it closely. 'Okay. So we need to even out the Sleepy Hollow table… hmm, let's move Grant Merth and Kaitlen Conners from the Beetlejuice table - they get along with those guys. That should sort it out.'

Lizbeth took the clipboard back from Annabeth and made the adjustments with a pencil, muttering a thanks before she hurried back off again to move people around. Annabeth exhaled softly.

'High school politics, huh,' Jason murmured.

'More like high school drama. I'm glad we're not staying all night; the sooner we get out of here, the better.'

'What are we waiting for?'

'I have to stay at least until everyone is seated for dinner. And we can't go without Piper-'

'You kids talkin' 'bout me?'

They both turned at the voice and were presented with Piper McLean in all of her dressed-up glory. Her dress was black too, but fell short of her knees and left her shoulders bare with thick halter neck straps. It was simple enough, as was her hair, make-up, and jewellry. But Jason's mouth went dry at the sight of her. He had seen Piper in running clothes, school uniform, ratty jeans and a hoodie, and even her pyjamas once. But this was a whole new ball game; sure he had always known she was beautiful, but this was something else.

'You look amazing,' he blurted out before he could stop himself.

Piper's cheeks filled with colour and she glanced down at her feet, biting a smile. 'Not so bad yourself, Grace.'

Annabeth cleared her throat and Jason felt his face get hot as he caught sight of her smirk. 'We'll be ready to get out of here in a while. Frank and Hazel are coming too; I told them we'd all meet by the beta block in about half an hour.'

'Okay cool, I got the getaway car.' She held up her left hand and jangled a set of keys.

'You have a car?' Jason asks, shocked.

'Yep. Percy drove it up this weekend so we could get into town and back tonight.'

'I hate to break this to you, Piper,' Annabeth interrupted, 'but you're underage.'

Piper smiled brilliantly and tossed the keys to Annabeth. 'That, my friend, is why you are driving us.'

Jason wasn't sure what he'd expected of the car, but it wasn't this. He knew, along with the rest of the school, that Piper's father was an incredibly rich actor and probably had as much, if not more, money as his family did. So he'd expected something a little less… rusty. Looking at it, he wasn't even sure if it would start. But as Annabeth settled behind the wheel, still wearing her dress under her coat, and eased the keys round in the ignition, the engine roared to life. Jason sat shotgun and tried not to inhale Piper's smell too obviously as she leant forward from the back seat where Frank and Hazel sat on either side of her; Frank looking far too big for the cramped space.

'Okay, Leo has a few rules-'

'This is Leo's car?' Jason interrupted.

'Well, sort of.'

They all stared at her and she shifted uncomfortably. 'When we were younger, Leo's mom gave it to the three of us as a sort of project. I mean, it was a pile of junk on three wheels and she just wanted to get us out from under her feet. But Leo, well he's pretty good with machinery, and Percy and I helped out where we could - mostly we brought him smoothies and moral support as he worked. Anyway, we finished it this summer.'

'Why didn't you bring it to Moncada at the beginning of term?' Annabeth asks.

Piper snorted. ''Cause it's a pile of junk. I mean, I love it - we all do. But do you really think it would fit in here? With these kids?'

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. 'You mean us kids?' she asked, looking around at the car full of Moncada kids.

'No, not you guys,' Piper stammered. 'I meant… whatever. It wouldn't exactly fit in with the BMWs in the student carpark.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes and adjusted the seat, cranking it forward a couple of inches. 'You said something about rules.'

'Yeah. You can drive stick, right?'

'Yep.'

'Okay, first is a little jarry - you have to lift the gear box a little-'

'That doesn't sound good...' Frank muttered.

'It's a work in progress,' Piper said defensively. 'Also, no feet on the dash or seats; no drinks inside the car; no easy listening radio inside the car; no smoking inside the car-'

'Piper,' Annabeth interrupted, 'how many rules are there?'

'Um.' She scrunched her face up in thought and Jason tried not to concentrate on how adorable she looked. 'Thirty-six.'

Annabeth groaned. 'Right, we're going. Seatbelts on everyone. Jason pick a radio station, and make sure it's not easy listening. Piper you can tell Leo that we listened to his precious rules with our undivided attention, okay?'

Piper shrugged and sat back between Frank and Hazel, fastening her seat belt and sticking her feet through the centre panel so that her converses were touching Jason's elbow. She was still wearing her dress, but had switched her heels for her beaten up sneakers when they'd gotten into the car. Somehow, she made it look good. Hazel was still in her dress too - a modest burgundy one - and wore black ankle boots; and Frank was still in his black shirt and trousers with a Vancouver Winter Olympics jacket over the top.

Jason had been in a car with Annabeth driving before, but never one this old or loud. Despite all the windows being closed, cold air found its way inside the car. Jason welcomed it greedily, closing his eyes as Annabeth drove through winding lanes and Piper leaned forward to crank up the radio and sing along to Reef.

By the time they reached the town, night had truly fallen, but the streets were well lit as groups of kids walked around in fancy dress, carrying plastic pumpkins to collect their candy. Piper directed them towards the diner where there was a small car park around the back for staff.

'It's fine,' she assured them. 'No one uses this; every body just walks to work.'

Annabeth shut the engine off and they all clambered out, shivering against the cold evening. The car may not have been all that well sealed, but it kept them warmer than this. As Piper shivered and tugged her jacket tighter around her shoulders, Jason wanted to wrap an arm around her to warm her up. But she marched on ahead of them, leading them around the diner to the front door. Jason jumped slightly when Annabeth's hand slipped under his elbow and she smiled up at him - a little too smugly for his liking - and pulled him along after Piper. Frank and Hazel followed behind, not linking arms but walking slightly apart from one another.

The bell jingled above the door as they all entered and Jason immediately felt a fragrant warmth surround him, pulling him further inside. Inside the Shack was noisy, full of loud hallowe'en decorations and 1950's decor which was all a little overwhelming when presented with it without any foreboding. Piper walked right up to the bar and leaned over to punch the waiter standing on the other side on the shoulder. When he looked up, Jason saw that it was Percy. He was wearing a lime green and white barber's shirt covered in pumpkin and bat badges, his hair was the usual black mess and his smile was genuine when he recognised Piper.

'Took you long enough.' He turned and yelled over his shoulder, 'Leo, they're here!'

Leo's head popped up over a high counter which separated the kitchen from the rest of the diner; he appeared to be covered in food and his smile was just as manic as always. 'Chicas! You came to see me! Wow, Pipes, a little dressy for the diner, but I'll go with it.' And then his eyes landed on the rest of the group - still standing somewhat awkwardly by the door. 'Oh, you all dressed up. What's the special occasion?'

'We came straight from the ball,' Piper said. 'You got a booth for us?'

Percy lifted a section of the bar and ducked underneath, grabbing a hand full of menus as he went. Annabeth tugged Jason after Piper and they all walked through the diner, attracting a few stares in their formal get-up, following Percy to the end where two windows met, bordering an empty corner booth.

'Here you go,' Percy said, spreading his hand and smiling at them all. When his gaze fell on Annabeth, he froze, mouth opening in a little 'o' and eyes widening comically. His eyes darted all the way up and down the length of her body and then lingered on her arm tucked into Jason's. His forehead puckered, eyes narrowing. Annabeth slipped away from Jason and shuffled into the booth next to Piper. Percy frowned at Jason a moment longer before addressing the table.

'Welcome to the Shack. My name is Percy, and I will be serving you.' He gave a short bow and they all laughed appreciatively. Percy's smile widened. 'As it's Hallowe'en, our menu has it's own spooky twist. I would personally recommend the pumpkin pancakes, or the eyeball soup.' He leaned towards Hazel to stage whisper, 'They're not really eyeballs, kids, don't worry. Also, our zombie smoothie is a favourite with most. Would you like a few minutes to decide?'

Piper was snickering and Percy stuck his tongue out at her as the rest of the group studied their menus. Percy left them to attend to a five year old kid calling his name, which made Jason wonder if everyone in this town knew each other by first name. As soon as Percy was out of earshot, Jason turned to Annabeth.

'He was checking you out.'

Her eyes widened. 'What?'

He grinned at her flushed cheeks. 'You know. And you liked it.'

'I... Oh, shut up.' She elbowed him in the stomach, barely hiding her smile and giving Jason all the confirmation he needed.

Half an hour later, Leo came bounding over to them, edging his way into the already cramped booth and grinning like a madman.

'You have purple crap on your face,' Piper said.

Leo scrubbed at his face, smearing said purple crap all over his skin. Percy rolled his eyes as he dragged a chair up and sat on it back to front, resting his forearms on the back. 'So how're y'all enjoying our fine dining experience?'

Jason swallowed his mouthful of 'zombie flesh' burrito and nodded. 'The food's great.'

'Thanks, man,' Leo piped up.

'Wait. You cooked this?'

He grinned. 'Not all of it, but yeah I made that one.'

Jason eyed his burrito, suddenly concerned about it's contents. From Annabeth's other side, Piper laughed. 'Don't worry, Jason. He's been working here for over a year and he hasn't managed to poison anybody yet.'

'You've been working here for a year?' Jason asked.

'Yup. But Percy's the longest sufferer.'

They all looked to Percy as he laughed. 'Yeah, two years with two more to go.'

'Counting down?' Jason asked.

He nodded vigorously. 'Can't wait to get out of here.'

'You'll miss it when you're gone,' Hazel intoned, sounding wistful. It was enough to get Jason wondering, not for the first time, about her past.

'It's all right for you,' Piper grumbled. 'Leo and I are here for three more years.'

'It's not like you have to work here, beauty queen,' Leo said, stuffing a hand full of Jason's fries into his mouth.

'Pfft, you'd be lost without me.'

'I'm capable of handling myself, Piper.'

She gave him a doubtful look and flicked some of her milkshake at him.

Jason didn't miss the way Percy smiled fondly at his friends' exchanges and he figured the guy wasn't all that ready to leave them behind just yet.

'Anyway,' Piper said, closing her lips around her straw and sucking up her strawberry milkshake. It had red food colouring in it which stained her lips when she swallowed and smacked them together. 'The real tragedy here is the fact that I'm living with a randomer for senior year, since someone is leaving.' She looked over at Annabeth like she was a traitor.

Annabeth just laughed. 'You'll cope. I am, after all.'

'Hardy har.'

Annabeth grinned and slid Piper's milkshake over to herself, taking a sip.

'I can't believe this term is going by so fast,' Hazel piped up. 'Our first hockey tournament is next week.'

'Ooh, I'll bring my pom poms,' Leo said with enthusiasm - Jason wasn't sure how genuine it was. 'Frank, you can lift me for the jumps, yeah?'

Frank blinked. 'Uhh...'

'He's pulling your leg, man,' Percy said. 'Leo, no one wants to lift you in case they see up your skirt.'

They all laughed as Leo shook his head. 'I'm telling you, you're all missing out.'

Piper spoke up. 'And I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure none of us want to be scarred by that sight. It would take years of counselling to undo.'

'You'd love to get a sneak peek up my skirt Pipes.' He winked at her and Piper gagged on her tofu burger.

'HEY VALDEZ!' a croaky voice called from the general direction of the kitchen. 'WHEN YOU'RE DONE ENTERTAINING FRIENDS, GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS BACK IN THIS KITCHEN.'

Leo lumbered out of his chair and winked at them all. 'Gotta go, chicas. I'M COMING, DARLING!'

'Is he always like that?' Frank asked.

Percy laughed. 'Yeah, Leo doesn't really have a "mellow" mode.'

'JACKSON! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A HOLIDAY HOME TO YOU?! GET OFF YOUR PRETTY LITTLE ASS AND BACK TO WORK.'

Percy grinned at them as he stood up and sauntered back to the bar. Jason turned to Annabeth and noticed that she was still staring after the waiter.

He cleared his throat. 'Appreciating the "pretty little ass"?'

She blinked. 'What?'

From her other side, Piper leaned over and grinned. 'Were you checking out the booty of Percy Jackson?'

'No!' Annabeth's ears were bright red and that was all the confirmation he needed. He locked eyes with Piper and grinned conspiratorially as his best friend protested weakly.

'You're not fooling anyone, Annabeth,' Piper said, picking up a fry from Annabeth's plate. 'Just wait 'til you see him in his speedo.'

Hazel choked on her milkshake. Frank patted her on the back as she coughed into a napkin.

'Sorry.' Piper cringed.

'Speedo?' Frank asked, looking mortified.

Piper laughed. 'Not the banana hammock ones. They go down to his knees; but they're still pretty tight and they don't leave much to the imagination, if you know what I mean.'

'I think the whole diner knows what you mean,' Jason muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed on behalf of his friend.

Piper shrugged. 'Every one in East Summers has seen Percy in his swim lycra; he was on the school swim team for, like, five years.'

'He did say something about that,' Frank intoned. 'And that swim season starts next term.'

'Yeah, he's trying out,' Piper confirmed. 'He's been down to the pool a few times since we started at Moncada, but he needs to get his ass back into shape before tryouts.'

Jason looked over at the black-haired boy as he served a couple of old ladies with a toothy smile. He didn't look very athletic. Sure, he was lean; but he didn't look like he had that much muscle on him. He looked like a skater kid; which is what he was, but still.

They all hung around in their booth, ordering more fries and milkshakes until the diner emptied and they were left alone as Percy and another waitress cleaned up. Percy locked up and they all piled into the car that didn't fit them. Jason sat in the front with Annabeth on his knee; Leo was on Piper's knee in the back; and Percy called out before he drove off: 'EVERYONE COMFORTABLE?'

'NO!' Was the resounding answer.

'Valdez, you need to eat something, your ass is so bony.'

'I think my leg is going numb.'

'I'm pretty sure my foot is gonna be stuck here forever.'

'Don't worry. There's a crowbar in the boot.'

'Why is there a crowbar in the boot?'

'In case of emergencies?'

'What kind of emergency requires a crowbar?!'

'We'll find out if your foot doesn't get unstuck.'

'Percy, when did you pass your test?'

'Last week. Seat belts on everyone. We need to get back before midnight or our chariot will turn back into a Pumpkin.'

And with a few exchanged looks of terror, they all buckled up as best they could and drove off into the night.

* * *

hey again! this week it's Halloween and the kids didn't have exactly a traditional celebration, but they did all get to hang out at the diner at last

(apologies for any typos or lack of formatting on this, i'm on my way out as i'm posting this so it's a bit rushed)

Mari's response to my choice for Annabeth's dress was, _oh, poor Percy._ which i think is accurate.

the chapter title is indeed from The Nightmare Before Christmas because what's hallowe'en without Jack Skellington?

i hope you all enjoyed BOO. please don't put any spoilers in the reviews because although I've finished it, others may not have. if you want to ask my opinion on it, feel free to send me a PM or hop over to my tumblr - ananbeth

until next week, sweeties xx


	6. It's hardest from the start

_Thursday, 19th November 2009_

It was funny, the things you remembered from your childhood.

Annabeth didn't remember the first day she met Jason Grace. But she did remember the first time she heard him play violin. She was seven years old, he was six, and he had absolutely no idea how to even hold the instrument. He was alone is one of the music rooms of the vast academy their parents had enrolled them both in.

'You're gonna break it,' she said from the doorway, causing Jason to jump and almost drop the instrument.

He scowled at her. 'Don't sneak up on me.'

'You play the cornet,' she pointed out.

He scowled at the ground and clutched the violin tighter in his hands. 'I don't want to play the cornet.'

'Why not? You're good at it.'

'It's boring. I want to play the violin.'

Annabeth stared at him, confusion pinching her eyebrows together. She hadn't known him for very long; only long enough to know that his dad had a similar job to her mom and he never chose the easy path to anything. And that he was her best friend; mostly because he was the only kid at the academy who wasn't scared of her because of who her parents were or that she knew Taekwondo.

'Okay.' She nodded. 'So play the violin.'

Jason lifted his head to look at her, a challenge still in his eyes. But then it softened as he saw the belief she held for him. She would always believe Jason could do anything he set his mind to.

'But you should probably learn how to hold it right first.'

...

Jason tucked the violin against his broad shoulder, resting his chin on the pad and easing his bow at the strings.

'GOD, we're rusty,' Annabeth said, wincing as Jason's violin screeched in protest.

Jason lowered his instrument from his shoulder and adjusted the strings. 'It has been a while. The audition isn't for a couple of weeks. We have time.'

He sounded so confident that Annabeth couldn't bring herself to doubt their ability to improve in time. She ran her fingers across the keys of the upright piano she was sat before and read the music sheets propped in front of her. She and Jason would be performing a duet audition for separate recitals at the music academy they used to attend.

Annabeth and Jason started at the academy when they were respectively six and five years old. After a year of miserably playing the cornet, Jason switched to the violin - with much pleading and convincing and deal making with his parents and tutor - and had been playing it ever since. Annabeth had first sat down at a piano on her father's knee at the tender age of four, and had giggled joyfully as he played chopsticks. The memory was faint and incomplete in her mind, but she had a photo capturing the moment tucked away in the photo album under her bed; her four year old face scrunched up in glee and captured forever between the arms of her father on the photograph. She had been playing the piano for as long as she remembered.

When they each started at Moncada, they'd stopped attending because it simply didn't fit in with their schedules, but they occasionally tried out for recitals at the old school. Annabeth missed being there; it was where she had met Jason, where she had fallen in love with music and playing and being young and slightly more naive about the world than she was now.

She missed the sleek black grand piano on the main stage at the academy; she missed her own piano in her parents' music room; or even the grand piano at Jason's house. She'd been practicing with the piano in the school's music room for the two years she'd been at Moncada, but she had never felt very comfortable with it.

'We'll be fine,' she reassured him. 'We've never screwed up before.'

Jason threw his head back and groaned. 'You just HAD to jinx it, didn't you?'

She grinned at him. 'Don't get all superstitious on me, Grace.'

He started singing 'Very superstitious, writing's on the wall...' under his breath as Annabeth rolled her eyes and fidgeted on the hard bench. She readjusted her music sheets, drew in a deep breath, and set her fingers on the keys. The first few notes fell out easily, filling the room with delicate sounds. And then the first note sang on Jason's violin and Annabeth felt full with the soft noise as it eased across the strings. Their music twisted together with little effort; they had always been so in tune with each other when they played. It was like they became one person. Even when Annabeth messed up half way through, Jason just grinned and readjusted for her; and on they played as if nothing had happened.

'That was better,' he said as the final note of her piano died out.

'Still needs practice.'

'Well it's a good thing we have so much time, isn't it.'

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'Was that an attempt at sarcasm?'

'Yeah. How did I do?'

She shrugged. 'I'd give you a six.'

'Jeez. You're harsh, woman.'

'Don't call me woman.'

'Yes, m'lady.'

She sent a withering look his way but ended up smiling when he lifted his violin and stared out the window in a haughty manner.

Annabeth had set her fingers on the white keys again, ready to play when Jason's voice interrupted her, 'Oh damn! That looked like it hurt.'

'What?'

When she looked up, Jason was already crossing to the window and unlatching the lock to slide it open. He stuck his head out and yelled, 'You still alive, Jackson?'

Wait, Jackson? Annabeth scrambled to the window and stuck her head out next to Jason's with as much dignity as she could manage. And sure enough, she was greeted with the sight of Percy Jackson lying on his back as his skateboard rolled sadly away from him. He stuck his arm in the air and gave Jason a thumbs up.

From where she was sitting on a nearby bench, Piper called out to them, 'What's up, dorks?'

'Is he okay?' Annabeth asked, hearing the note of concern in her own voice and only hating herself a little bit for it.

Piper stood up from the railing and crossed to stand over her friend. She nudged his arm with the toe of her sneaker.

'Yeah, he's fine.'

'I think I see blood.'

Percy rolled over and stood up, groaning. He dragged up his shirt sleeve and inspected the large gash along his forearm.

'Oh man. Mom's gonna kill me.'

'Come on,' Piper said, tugging on his other arm. 'Let's go to the nurse. See you guys later!'

They both waved vaguely up at Jason and Annabeth's window as they picked up their skateboards and trudged off. Annabeth ducked back into the room and crossed over to the piano, smoothing her skirt underneath herself as she sat down. From her peripheral vision, she saw Jason follow her lead and pick up his abandoned violin. He placed it neatly against his shoulder and looked over at her, waiting for her lead.

'You know, you sounded awfully concerned back there.'

'Shut up.'

'I'm just saying.'

'Jason.'

'Yes?'

'Shut up.'

* * *

_Friday, 20th November 2009_

She next saw Percy in their study session the following day. He tumbled into the library at 5.07 and threw himself down at the table next to her.

'Sorry I'm late,' he mumbled. 'Leo had an incident with a wrench and a car seat.'

She raised an eyebrow at him. 'I'm sure I don't want to know. How's the arm?'

'Huh? Oh that.' He dragged his sleeve up, revealing a large bandage which was probably white at one point. 'Its fine. Piper likes to mother me.'

She screws her face up a little. 'I'm sure you're supposed to keep that clean.'

He inspected it. 'It's fine. Bit of dirt never hurt anyone.'

'It could get infected.'

He gave her a look. 'Stop worrying about me.'

'I'm not worrying about you.'

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Annabeth sniffed. 'We should get to work.'

'Yeah, sure. Hey, don't we need a computer?'

'They're all taken. We can do some of our work on paper until a computer frees up.'

But, half an hour later, all of the computers were still occupied and they were barely working.

Annabeth sighed. 'This is useless.'

Percy glanced up from the elaborate doodle he was covering his notepad with. 'Back at E.S. we had a rota thing. You could only stay on one computer for forty minutes at a time.' He glanced around the room. 'Of course we didn't have Apple Macs and it took about twenty minutes to boot the damn things up so it took you all week to get one assignment done.'

'You could work at home though.'

He shrugged. 'I guess. But my mom used her laptop for writing and it was a pretty old one so I didn't want to fuck it up any more than it already was.'

'She couldn't get a newer one?'

He side-eyed her. 'Not all of us are made of money, you know.'

Annabeth frowned at him. It wasn't the first time he'd made a comment like that about her wealth, and how blatently different it was from his. He was always throwing out snide comments about the kids at Moncada, as if he wasn't a kid from Moncada; as if he was better than any of these students because he went to a state school.

She tried not to let him irritate her, but he had a way of getting under her skin.

'Well, I have a laptop because my family has more money than God. So let's go use that one.'

Percy raised his eyebrows at her curt tone. But she was already packing up her bag and walking from the library, assuming he would follow.

Annabeth was half way across the quad when Percy caught up to her. They walked in silence; him staring at the grass and she at the alpha building which was their destination. They rode the elevator up to the third floor and had still not said a word until Annabeth unlocked the door to her dorm and stepped inside.

'Woah,' Percy said, 'I guess it's obvious which side is yours.'

'What do you mean?'

Percy stared at her. 'This might be a shot in the dark, but I'm guessing the Han Solo poster doesn't belong to you.'

'Well no,' she admitted. 'But it could.'

'Thought you were a trekkie.'

She rolled her eyes. 'I've seen Star Wars, Percy.'

He made himself comfortable on Piper's bed. 'Which is your favourite one?'

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. 'Empire Strikes Back.'

He nodded. 'Figures.'

'What does that mean?'

He shrugged. 'It's the best one. Piper will tell you Return of the Jedi is, but don't listen to her.'

She was trying hard not to smile. Dammit, she was annoyed with him five minutes ago. How could he be making her smile? She sat at her desk and opened her laptop, tapping her foot on the floor as it loaded.

'What about Leo?'

Percy let out a groan. 'You don't want to know.'

She turned to face him 'That bad?'

He looked at her. 'Revenge of the Sith.'

Despite herself, Annabeth laughed at Percy's pained expression.

'Don't laugh. It's not funny. It's kind of tragic actually.'

'Oh come on, it's not that bad. Don't be such a snob.'

He raised his eyebrows at her. She ignored him and picked up her laptop to sit next to him on the bed.

'No more geek talk. We've got work to do.'

'Slavedriver.'

But he was smiling.

'Is there a reason you're sitting on my bed?' Piper asked when she walked through the door almost an hour later.

'Because Annabeth's side of the room looks like a doctor's surgery. Except with less posters.'

'Hey!'

Piper grinned as she sat down at her desk. 'It is kind of bare.'

'I get distracted easily!'

'A couple of photos wouldn't hurt though,' Piper suggested.

'Or a poster? Or even some colourful sheets? I mean, it's so bare, it's kind of painful.'

Annabeth looked between the two of them and shut her laptop, huffing indignantly. 'This is why I don't hang out with you two on my own. You gang up on me.'

She stood up and placed her laptop on her desk.

'I guess we're done for tonight then,' Percy said, barely bothering to conceal his smile.

'I have a council meeting. See you guys at dinner.'

'See you later.' Piper waved a vague hand over her shoulder as Annabeth picked up her bag to leave. As she closed the door, she heard Percy say, 'So Annabeth thinks Empire is better than Jedi.'

* * *

_Sunday, 22nd November 2009_

Percy had never looked less forward to seeing his mom.

In fact, this had to be the first time he wasn't wholeheartedly looking forward to seeing her. He loved his mom; and he was completely aware that Leo and Piper called him a momma's boy. Why wouldn't he be? Sally Jackson was the best mom in the world. End of story.

And he had to be the worst kid.

It's funny, how life works that way. His mom had dropped out of school and worked as a maid for twelve years because she'd had to raise him alone, because his father had up and left them when Percy was a newborn baby. And Percy had gotten reprimand after reprimand at school. She had probably been into the principal's office at East Summers more times than every other parent of the kids in his year put together.

He wished he could say that times had changed. But here he stood in the school car park, waiting for his mom to arrive for her second meeting with a teacher at his new school. In fairness, this meeting wasn't about his behaviour; worse, it was about his grades. It wasn't like he hadn't been trying, and his grades for most of his classes had been doing better than usual, especially chemistry, but his dyslexia was still dragging him down, especially English class.

Despite his impending doom, when his mom's car pulled onto the car park, Percy's heart lifted in his chest. He hopped off the railing he had been sitting on as the car engine switched off and walked over to wrap his mom in a hug. She laughed and patted his back with her keys still in hand.

'It's good to see you too, honey.'

He pulled back and smiled. 'Missed you, mom.'

'I won't ask why it's been three weeks since I saw you.' She gave him a scornful look which was ruined by the smile tugging at her lips.

He ducked his chin. 'Sorry. Been kinda busy.'

She turned away from him to close the car door and lock it. 'That's good. When are swim trials?'

They began walking towards the cluster of buildings together and Sally tucked her hand through his arm. 'After Christmas.'

'Have you been in the pool much?'

'A little.'

'You need to practice.'

'Mom.'

But he had sort of missed her mothering him.

By the time they'd reached the classroom, Percy had almost forgotten why they were there. He wouldn't admit how much he'd missed his mom. He had been speaking to her on the phone almost every other day, but it wasn't the same as getting home from school and whining to her about class over dinner. He missed their routine. He missed her voice through his bedroom door as an alarm clock every morning, he missed going to Charlie's Sweet Emporium with her and buying all the blue sweets. He missed hearing updates about her new novel and midnight pancake flipping contests. He missed their apartment and them.

Every time he was sat having dinner with his friends in the cafeteria, he thought about his mom eating alone in their apartment. He didn't voice his concerns for her loneliness; he didn't want to be overbearing. She could take care of herself.

Sally raised her hand to knock on the door to the classroom and before Percy could say a word, his teacher called from inside, 'Come in.'

He let his mom go first and followed somewhat sulkily behind. It wasn't like he didn't like Mr Blofis, in fact, he happened to be one of his favourite teachers. But any kid would be mortified going into a meeting whereby his poor grades would be discussed with his mom and teacher while he sat by and had to listen to it all.

He turned to close the door behind them and heard his mom and English teacher make their introductions to one another. Mr Blofis introduced himself as Paul which was weird. Percy never really thought of teachers as having first names. Logically, he knew they did. But hearing one out loud felt like he'd crossed some weird sort of boundary separating the world of teachers and students.

When Percy closed the door and looked up, Mr Blofis was shaking his mom's hand and smiling. His mom was smiling too. And they were smiling and shaking hands and Percy was just standing there, watching them. He cleared his throat and his mom jumped a little, blinking at him like she'd forgotten he was there. Thanks, mom.

'Percy,' Mr Blofis - Paul - greeted with a warm smile, 'It's good to see you again. Why don't you both take a seat?'

They both did, Sally crossing her legs and Percy his arms as Mr Blofis settled back into his desk chair and shuffled around a few files on his desk. After a few moments, he looked up at them again and smiled that universal teacher smile which made Percy cringe for what was coming.

'Now, while Percy has clearly been applying himself to his studies and that is wonderful to see, his grades are still not what I would like to be seeing. We have spoken about your dyslexia after you approached me for advice and I hope that I have pointed you in the right direction.'

Percy nodded at his pause and saw his mom glance at him from the corner of his eye. 'Yeah. Those exercises helped a lot,' he muttered.

'That's wonderful,' Mr Blofis said, clearly pleased. 'But I think we need to look at some more options here.'

'Such as?' Sally prompted, leaning forward.

'Well, moving Percy to another class is one possibility. But, personally, I don't think that disrupting him would have a positive effect on his grades.'

Sally nodded.

'In my classes, I provide extra handouts and aids to benefit students like Percy. And I believe you have started using a dictaphone in class?'

The question was directed at Percy and he nodded obediently, keeping his mouth sealed shut.

'But I would also suggest extra tutoring.'

Percy's head snapped up. 'Tutoring?'

Mr Blofis nodded, clasping his hands together on the desk. 'Here at Moncada, we have a very capable and professional group of student tutors. A few of whom have good knowledge about studying with dyslexia - and one of whom has recently had a slot open up.'

He looked at Percy expectantly.

A tutor? He knew Leo was receiving tutoring for a couple of his classes, but that was mostly due to his hyperactiveness preventing him from focusing on any one thing for more than two minutes. Percy had trouble focusing too, but he could sit down for thirty minutes at a time and work if he forced himself too. He just struggled with the reading - especially with this Ye olde Shakespeare stuff. He couldn't really see how a tutor would help him. Maybe they would start acting out scenes?

He suddenly pictured himself in tights and those big puffy sleeves. Juliet, Juliet. What a babe. Maybe not.

'I think a tutor is a wonderful idea,' his mom said, pulling him from his slightly horrifying mental image.

Mr Blofis was nodding. He looked at Percy with raised eyebrows and Percy could feel the weight of both adults looking at him, waiting for an answer.

'Uhh. Sure? I guess that would be okay.'

Mr Blofis beamed. 'Wonderful.'

He made a note on one of his pieces of paper.

'Who is it?'

Mr Blofis looked up, eyebrows raised. 'Sorry?'

'The person who'll be tutoring me,' Percy clarified.

'Oh. Jason Grace. He's a sophomore, but he's very capable; one of the best tutors we have and he's worked with students who have dyslexia before.'

'Yeah. I know him.'

'Oh, that's great.'

Percy wasn't sure he agreed. Jason would be his tutor? Wouldn't that be kind of mortifying? And humiliating - since he was a year younger. Would he regurgitate all the dumb stuff Percy said to their friends - to Annabeth?

'That's just about all I wanted to discuss today. Percy could you wait outside for a few minutes while I speak with your mom, please?'

'Huh? Oh. Sure.'

He stepped out into the hallway and leaned against the wall, sticking his hands into the pockets of his trousers and finding a paper clip. He pulled it out and began unfurling the metal from its original shape. The metal dug into his fingers, leaving marks on his skin, as he thought over the idea of having Jason as a tutor.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they would actually have fun, maybe his grades would improve. Maybe this whole thing wouldn't be a horrible, humiliating mess. Well, a guy could hope.

A few minutes later, the door opened and his mom stepped out, a notable blush on her cheeks as she tucked something into her bag.

'It was lovely meeting you, Miss Jackson,' Paul said from the door.

'And you.'

'See you in class tomorrow, Percy.'

'Yeah. Bye, sir.'

After Mr Blofis had closed the door and they were walking back to his mom's car, his mom still hadn't spoken. She unlocked her car and turned to face him. Percy eyed her warily.

'What did you guys talk about after you sent me out?'

Sally blinked. 'What? Nothing. We- um, we didn't talk about anything.'

'So, what, you just sat in silence for five minutes?'

'No. I-' She sighed. 'He was just catching me up on how you're doing. Good things.'

He squinted at her.

She rolled her eyes. 'Stop worrying. Come on, I'll take you to Charlie's and drop you back before your curfew.'

'Are you bribing me with sweets?'

'I'm bribing you with sweets,' she confirmed.

He cracked a smile. 'Well, as long as they're blue.'

* * *

apologies for this chapter being shorter than usual, but my writing juices have been lacking and this week has been kind of insane for me.

anyway, the BIG NEWS is that Mari was looking through our old e-mails the other day and she discovered that today, the boarding school AU is one year old! so happy birthday us :D i know that might sound pretty strange to you guys, since we're only six chapters into a fic that i started publishing a month and a half ago, but mari and i have been developing this AU for a long, long time. anyone who follows us on tumblr might have tracked our progress. I just wanted to say a quick thank you on the behalf of both of us for everyone who has read and supported this story over the past year you guys rock and we wouldn't be here without you :3

yes i'm a star wars snob, deal with it

the chapter title is from Best Friend by Foster the People

HUGE THANKS to Jane (flyingcrowbar on tumblr) for doing a super quick edit of this chapter tonight, you're a life saver and i love you

let me know what you thought of the chapter and tune in next week for another episode of human disasters attend boarding school


	7. Did you blush when our hands touched?

_Wednesday, 25th November 2009_

'ARE YOU READY FOR BLOOD, LADIES?'

Annabeth elbowed Piper in the ribs as they tied their laces, each with a foot propped on the bench in the school changing rooms.

'I love how Caw gets on game day,' she muttered with a grin. 'It's epic.'

Piper side eyed her friend as she swapped her foot to tie the laces of her other sneaker. 'She's pretty intense. It's only the first game of the season.'

Annabeth straightened up and began braiding her hair back into two french plaits. 'Yeah, against E.S. It's like, the most competitive game of the season.'

Piper's stomach churned, not for the first time since she'd heard they would be playing against her old school. Despite never having set foot in East Summers High changing rooms, she was unfortunately familiar with the team captain. Clarisse La Rue was, as her surname implied, ruthless. She was in Percy's year and the two had developed a fast loathing for each other on their first day of school. And since Piper and Leo were Percy's best friends, Clarisse chose to hate them with just as much vigour when they started as Freshmen a year later.

Granted, the feud of hair pulling and attempted toilet dunking had mellowed into threats in the corridors which Piper could easily rebuke by their last semester at E.S., but Piper still wasn't eager to face the girl with a hockey stick in her hand.

Percy and Leo had tried to persuade her not to play; she could see the frustration in Percy's clenched jaw at the idea of her having to face Clarisse without either of them at her side. But she didn't want to look like a coward. She certainly hadn't told Annabeth or Hazel, for fear that they would tell Caw to bench her, or make to defend her themselves.

She took a deep breath and told herself that everything would be okay. There was no way Clarisse would try anything on the pitch in front of all those people. Piper's stomach clenched again, _all those people_. Despite her father's A list status, Piper truly hated the limelight. She always had done.

Annabeth's elbow found her ribs for the second time that afternoon. 'You okay over there? You look like you're gonna be sick.'

Piper shook her head and tried for a smile. 'I'm fine.'

Annabeth didn't look convinced. 'Maybe you should bench the first half if you're feeling sick.'

'Annabeth, I'm fine.' She made sure her own hair was tied back securely and picked up her hockey stick. 'Now lets get this blood Caw is yelling about.'

'Yes, McLean!' Gwen appeared at her side and promptly smacked her on the behind. 'Go get em, Tiger!'

Piper stared at her. 'Is It a tradition in Wales to spank your teammates on the ass before a game?'

Gwen frowned. 'I thought it was a yank thing?'

Piper shrugged. 'I'm not exactly an avid sports fan so I wouldn't know.'

'And yet here you are, playing sport,' Annabeth said wistfully, throwing an arm around Piper's shoulders. 'I'm so proud.'

Piper rolled her eyes and shrugged her friend off. 'So is butt slapping a legit thing, or is Gwen abusing us?'

'Oh, she's definitely abusing you,' Hazel piped up. Short as she was, she looked ready to take on the likes of Clarisse La Rue in a heartbeat. And Piper had seen her hit enough hockey balls to know that she was glad they were on the same team.

Gwen placed a hand over her heart and assumed a wounded expression. 'Hazel, I am shocked that you would think so little of me.'

Hazel just raised her eyebrows.

'LADIES!' Caw called from the other side of the changing rooms. 'I'm trying to pep talk your asses here. Could you at least do me the courtesy of paying attention.'

'Sorry miss,' Hazel called, looking abashed.

But Gwen was still grinning. 'Sorry miss.' She cleared her throat. 'Blood and pain right? LET'S GO KICK SOME ARSE!'

'THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!'

And with that, they all jogged out into the arctic weather.

They were met with the cheers of their classmates who had braved the freezing weather in gloves and hats and scarves while the girls ran around in shorts. Piper spotted the boys amongst the crowd, screaming their lungs out, and grinned.

Her smile faltered when she saw the smaller supporting crowd from E.S. - her old school friends. She hadn't really been close enough with any of them to keep in touch any more than the occasional exchange on Facebook or a short conversation when they came into the diner. But seeing them all there reminded her of what she'd left behind. Despite her family being considerably more wealthy than any and all of those kids, she'd felt far more akin to them than the preppy majority at Moncada.

Despite her new friendships, Piper couldn't help but miss East Summers.

Well, not all of it.

Clarisse was just as comic-book-bully-menacing as she used to be. Her brown hair was tied back from her scowling face and her bulky frame was accentuated by her shin pads, padded gloves and hockey stick - Piper wondered idly if she'd sharpened the point.

'Ugh, hasn't she graduated yet?' Annabeth muttered at Piper's elbow.

Piper looked at her. 'You know her?'

Annabeth nodded grimly and lifted her right hand. 'She broke my knuckles in Freshmen year.'

Piper examined the unevenness of her friend's hand and clenched her own hands in sympathy and anger. Before she could say anything further, Caw was sending them to their positions on the pitch and the referee was calling for the team captains to meet her in the middle.

Annabeth and Clarisse walked up and shook hands probably a little too firmly to be considered sportsmanly. The ref tossed the coin and Annabeth won, choosing to remain where they were and take the first hit. As soon as the whistle blew, Annabeth whacked the ball back to Gwen who promptly swept it out to Piper who had already run upfield. Her heart pounded as the ball flew towards her and in her mind's eye, she saw it flying beneath her stick and off the pitch. Somehow though, she got her stick down and stopped the ball, feeling it vibrate up her fingers.

She paused for a second or two as she tried to figure out her next move and heard Caw's voice in her head: _Look up, find space, keep moving_. Piper willed her chin up and her feet forward as she kept the ball cradled in her space, flicking the end of the stick around it the way Hazel had taught her to. Too soon, she was being surrounded by the opposing team and panic set in, jarring her movements. Her hands jerked and she lost control of the ball, allowing one of the ES girls to flick it away from her. She hits the ball away to one of her teammates before Piper can even react and she curses. And then another ES girl bumps her shoulder, hard. Piper stumbles and grabs her own shoulder, ready to rebuke when she finds that she is standing alone and most of the players are on the other side of the pitch - along with the ball she'd just lost possession of.

'MCLEAN!' Caw bellowed from the sideline. 'GET DOWN THE WING!'

Muttering curses under her breath, Piper turned on her heel and sprinted downfield, keeping to the left wing as she watched the progress of the game. Hazel, who played the Sweeper position, performed a neat tackle to regain the ball and hit it out to the right wing. Piper skidded to a stop and turned around again to run back up the way she had just come. She'd made it into the last third when Bellamy - the right wing - yelled 'SWITCH!' and smacked the ball across the pitch to Piper. Yet again, she dropped her stick low to stop the ball, and cushioned it so that she didn't get jarring vibrations up the stick.

_Don't choke._

She dribbled the ball forwards and kept a firm grip on her stick as she shifted the ball back and forth. She dodged one girl and saw Annabeth in position, on the other side of the goal. Piper swept the ball across to Annabeth, who expertly received it and adjusted it to shoot at the goal. The ball sailed past the bulky goalkeeper's right knee and Annabeth screamed victoriously.

Piper ran over to her friend and leapt on her, hearing Gwen's scream in her ear along with her other teammates.

It took a little while for them to get back in position after that and Piper could definitely hear Percy and Jason yelling over the cheering crowd. After that, the game flew by, and before Piper knew it, the whistle was blowing for half time.

They all gathered on the benches and chugged water as Caw rallied them. 'Two - one, girls. Good first half, but we need to keep the energy levels up. Make use of your wings.' She pointed at Piper and Bellulah, who played right wing. 'Take your time and when you get trapped in, hit the ball into any space you see.'

Piper felt Annabeth panting next to her. Her whole face was red, along with the exposed skin of her chest, arms and legs. She took a long drink of water and pointed over at their group of friends.

'Who's that with the guys?'

Piper peered over and felt her heart lift in her chest at the sight of the two women waving at her.

'Oh my god!'

'What?'

Piper jumped up, dragging Annabeth with her. 'Come on.'

'Piper, who is that?'

'Leo's and Percy's moms.'

'What? No, Piper I'm a mess. I can't-'

But Piper was unstoppable. 'Oh they won't care.' She thought she heard Annabeth mutter something else, but they were already at the railing dividing the spectators from the pitch. 'Sally!'

'Hello sweetheart!' Sally leaned over the barrier to hug her, apparently not caring how sweaty she was. Piper released her, grinning, and accepted the next hug from Esperanza.

'We saw you out there, you fierce lady!'

'I can't believe you're here!'

Esperanza pinched her cheek. 'Of course we came to support you. Now don't be rude, who's your friend here?'

'Oh, sorry!' Piper grabbed Annabeth's arm and pulled her into the limelight. 'This is my roommate, Annabeth. She's the reason I'm running around a hockey pitch in November.'

Annabeth was uncharacteristically bashful as both Esperanza and Sally greeted her warmly. Sally's eyes were just a little too wide in recognition and as Piper caught sight of Percy's _please don't say anything_ look fixed on his mother, she bit back a smile. Percy told his mom most things, except for how badly and how often he injured himself and how poor his grades were doing - for as long as he could keep that information from her. And it was obvious now that he had told her about Annabeth; probably gushing like the dork he was.

Piper decided to save embarrassing her friend for another time and tapped Annabeth's arm to pull her away from her conversation with Sally.

'We should get back before Caw is asking for our blood.'

Annabeth nodded. She turned back to Sally and Esperanza. 'It was really nice to meet you.'

As they were sloping back off, Percy grabbed Piper's arm. 'Can I talk to you for a sec?' He caught Annabeth's eye and gave her a little nod. 'I'll be quick.'

Piper frowned at Percy as he pulled her aside and waited for Leo to pop up at his elbow like an oversized jack-in-the-box. They both looked worried.

'Has she said anything to you?' Leo asked.

Piper didn't have to ask who he was talking about. 'She hasn't come near me.'

'Those other girls have though,' Percy pointed out. 'That girl who bumped you at the beginning of the match, I saw her look right at Clarisse afterwards - she's told them all to give you a hard time so she doesn't have to do it herself.'

Piper chewed on her lip. 'It's fine. They're just playing the game.'

'No way,' Leo protested, 'they're always on top of you. Even when you're nowhere near the ball.'

'They're just playing their positions,' she insisted, halfway believing the words. 'Listen, I got to go. You guys need to chill. I'll be fine.'

They looked far from reassured, but she didn't have time to hang around and pat them on the head. Half time was over, and they were only one goal up against a very competitive team. She had to focus on the game, not on what Clarisse may or may not be doing.

The second half of the game was played fast and dirty. The Moncada girls did their best to keep their playing clean, but E.S. were ruthless. Twice, had Piper's knuckles been grazed and she was sure she'd be covered in bruises tomorrow from the amount of times she'd been barged into and pushed to the ground. But it was after Annabeth's second goal of the match that Piper faced the brunt of the other team's frustration.

The girl who tripped her wasn't even that big. She was tall though, and built like a beanpole. And she was quick. Too quick for Piper to dodge her stick as it flew at her shins and took them out from under her. The ground came hurtling towards her and she just had time to lift her left arm to protect her face from the hard asphalt. A solid crack let her know something was broken. It wasn't until she rolled over sprawled on the hard ground that pain flared in her wrist and her head and everything went black.

And then noise hurtled in around her. Her teammates screaming bloody murder at the girl who tripped her; Percy and Leo yelling at Clarisse; Caw, up close and personal, voice calm as she repeated Piper's name.

'Talk to me, honey.'

Piper groaned. 'My wrist.'

An exhale filled with relief. 'I know. Stay still for a minute, okay.'

But the ground was cold and hard and she didn't want to be lying there anymore. 'Can't I get up now?'

'Not just yet.' She was holding Piper's head between her hands and looking into her eyes. 'Where does it hurt?'

'Just my wrist.' Which wasn't strictly true, but it was the most painful part of her body in that moment.

Caw nodded. 'Okay, let's get you up.'

A warm arm wrapped around Piper's waist and pulled her steadily to her feet. She felt her heart hiccup in her chest when she realised it was Jason holding her up. His face was drawn with worry but he wasn't looking at her. Piper followed his gaze and found Annabeth, Percy and Leo looking ready to pull Clarisse's and Beanpole's limbs off.

'Miss,' Piper said, looking at Caw, 'you should probably stop them.' She nodded at the group with whom the referee was struggling to control.

Caw nodded. 'Bench. I'll be there in a minute.'

Piper nodded and let Jason help her over to the bench. She only felt a little bit dizzy but she wasn't about to ask him to let go of her. Sally and Esperanza herded around her immediately.

'Are you alright, sweetheart?'

Piper nodded as Esperanza examined her wrist which lay limp in Piper's lap. 'It looks sprained, maybe broken. We'll need to get you to the emergency room.'

'Broken?' Piper echoed. She had avoided looking at it until now, but the skin above her hand was already swollen and shiny, disfiguring her arm. 'Okay, now I'm gonna be sick.'

It was then that her friends reappeared, grumbling. Annabeth met Piper's eyes. 'You okay?'

'I'm fine.'

'I'm going to kill Clarisse,' Percy growled.

'Percy,' Sally berated in a quiet voice.

'CHASE! WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED YOUR CHIT CHAT.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes and squeezed Piper's shoulder before jogging back onto the pitch. Leaving Leo and Percy in the forefront of Piper's view. Frank was hovering behind them, along with Sally and Esperanza. And if course there was Jason, whose arm was still around her, who smelled of coffee and aftershave and whose general presence was making Piper forget about the flaring pain in her wrist.

Esperanza pushed the boys aside to sit on Piper's other side. 'As soon as your coach comes back, I'm taking you to the hospital.'

'Can you do that? Don't you have to be my guardian or something?'

She smiled. 'When your dad came down last, we asked him to make Sally and I your emergency contacts for the school. We're responsible for you while you're here.'

Piper blamed the tears she was now blinking back on the pain and not the swell of her heart in her chest as she looked into the faces of the women who had been better parents to her than her mom and dad. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat and smiled.

Esperanza squeezed her knee and straightened up as Caw approached them. There was a flurry of protests from her friends when they were told they couldn't very well all leave campus during classes.

'You mean the classes they cancelled for the game?' Percy asked in his dryest tone.

'Percy,' Sally cut in, 'I'll take Piper now and Esperanza can bring the rest of you later.'

'You'll all just be sitting in the waiting room anyway,' Esperanza said.

Caw spoke up before anyone else could argue, 'Make sure you sign her out.'

She gave Piper a nod and turned her attention to the restarted game. Piper noticed that the Moncada girls were playing with vigour reminiscent of movie characters whose comrade has fallen in combat. The idea made her smile.

When she'd stood up and said goodbye to a grumpy Leo and Percy, Jason smiled at her. 'I'll walk you to the car.'

She nodded, bottom lip tucked between her teeth, and wondered if his eyes had always been that blue.

They walked a little behind Sally, and Piper tried not to limp too much as she discovered a new pain in her knee. Jason's hands were tucked into the pockets of his charcoal grey slacks, it was embarrassing how much she missed his arm around her waist. When they reached the car, he opened the door for her and helped her slide into the seat. He hesitated for a moment, glancing at Sally in the driver's seat, before murmuring a 'See you later,' and shutting the door.

Piper watched his retreating figure in the wing mirror until Sally cleared her throat pointedly.

'How's the wrist?' she asked.

'It's okay,' Piper lied. Now that it was at the forefront of her mind again, the pain was flaring up her whole arm.

Sally pulled out of the car park and began speeding down the lane. 'So, he seems nice.'

Piper held back a groan. 'He is.'

'You two were very close.'

'Sally.'

'He was very worried about you.'

_'Sally.'_

She was smiling. 'What's his name?'

Piper shook her head, unable to stop herself from smiling. 'His name is Jason.'

Sally nodded like she was taking note.

* * *

'Leo, get your feet off my dash,' Esperanza berated, lightly slapping her son's legs.

He grinned and dropped his booted feet to the floor of the cab. His mom's truck had never been so full of people. He had somehow managed to call shotgun, meaning that Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were sitting in the open back of the truck along with what seemed to be the rest of Moncada the hockey team. Leo thought this probably wasn't very legal, but even his mom hadn't wanted to say no to them all.

They were overreacting - the worst Piper would have was a broken wrist which would be put in plaster and they were all rushing to the hospital like she was on her death bed - but he thought she might appreciate their support anyway. Besides, who would pass up a field trip away from school.

That was the thing with the Moncada kids. Pretty much all of them had rich parents who'd dumped them there and picked them up again to go to their holiday homes in L.A. and the Hamptons and the freaking Maldives. So these kids rarely left Moncada campus; the closest place they could travel to was East Summers, and why would any of the richies want to go there?

'So, how's school, kiddo?' his mom asked, dragging Leo's attention back inside the cab.

He scrunched his face up. 'It's alright.'

'No more arson attempts?'

He looked at her. 'It was one bin.'

She hmm-ed. 'How're classes? You coping?'

'Yeah, mom. I'm doin' fine.'

He still hadn't told her he had a tutor. That was one piece of information he wanted to keep to himself for the moment; he wasn't ashamed, he just didn't want her to know that he was struggling at school. She already had enough to worry about without him screwing up even more.

'Okay,' she said, but he could tell she didn't quite buy it.

Half an hour later and a series of bad jokes on his part which had his mom laughing heartily, they were at the hospital. They all clambered out of the truck, those in the back looking slightly worse for wear. Leo didn't miss the way Percy helped Annabeth down and how his hand shook after she had let it go; he caught his friend's eye and smirked. Percy glared at him.

Together, they all trooped into the hospital. The receptionist balked when she saw the big group approach; but relaxed slightly when she realised that Esperanza was, despite her impeded height, an adult.

'Piper McLean was brought in a few hours ago with a sprained wrist, could you tell me where she is?

The receptionist nodded and smiled and looked down at her computer screen, pursing her pink lips as she scrolled and clicked and typed a few letters into the keyboard.

'Oh, yes. She went for an x-ray about an hour ago-'

'Mom?' Percy interrupted.

They all followed his gaze to see Sally stading down the hall with a cup of coffee in her hand. Her eyes widened when she took them all in. The receptionist made a meek protest, but they were all already rushing towards Sally, with Percy taking lead.

'Where is she?' he demanded.

'It's lovely to see you too, dear. She's getting a plaster done?'

'It's broken?' Annabeth asked.

Sally nodded. 'She'll have a cast for three weeks, at least.'

'Can we see her?'

'It's a pretty small room and there are a lot of you.' She met Esperanza's eyes with raised eyebrows and she just shrugged in response. 'Go sit in the waiting room, she'll be out in a minute.'

There were a few protests, but under Sally's and Esperanza's matching stern glares, they all retreated to the plastic chairs of the waiting room as the two women went off to check on Piper.

There wasn't much to do to pass with time. They all scrounged what change they had together - which wasn't a great deal as all of the girls were still in their hockey kits which didn't have pockets - to buy some snacks from the poorly stocked vending machine. Percy, Annabeth, and Gwen played happy sack with a packet of chips until the packet burst and they got told off by the receptionist.

When Piper eventually appeared, she started laughing at the sight of them all camped out in the waiting room. 'You're all ridiculous.'

'Nice cast, invalid,' Leo said.

'It's blue!' Percy added delightedly.

She rolled her eyes. 'Thought you'd appreciate that.' She turned to the rest of them as Sally and Esperanza talked to the receptionist. 'So how'd the rest of the game go.'

'It was brutal,' Jason said.

Annabeth punched his arm. 'We kicked their asses.'

'It was pretty terrifying actually,' Frank commented quietly and Annabeth grinned.

'Nobody hurts our teammate and gets away with it.'

'So…?' Piper hedged.

'So, what?'

Piper rolled her eyes. 'What was the score, you headcase?

'Eight to one,' Hazel said triumphantly. 'We destroyed them.'

'Hazel Levesque,' Piper said, eyes wide along with her smile, 'you sound proud of that fact.'

Hazel blushed, but she was smiling.

Sally and Esperanza came over then. 'All sorted. Let's get you kids back to school.'

A collective groan.

'Can't we go by the diner?' Leo whined.

'Yeah.' Piper batted her eyelashes at her would-be mom's. 'I'm an invalid now.'

Sally raised an eyebrow. 'You broke your wrist. And it's not even you're writing wrist.'

'But still.'

Sally couldn't resist Piper's charm any more than anyone else. Leo was grinning before she'd even opened her mouth. 'I suppose one milkshake couldn't hurt.'

And so the large group trooped out of the hospital again, much to the relief of the receptionist, and piled into Sally's car and Esperanza's truck and chanting _I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream_. Apparently without a care in the world that it was late-November and freezing outside.

* * *

A/N okay, a few things:

\- this fic will now be posted every other Thursday because i just don't have time to update once a week any more

\- the majority of the reviews i get for this fic are absolutely wonderful and supportive and i appreciate them so so much. however, there is a minority which really piss me off. i want to make this clear: i am not obliged to write this, i am not being paid to do so by yourselves or any other individual. i write it because i love writing fic and this story is mine and Mari's baby. but i have a life outside of my computer screen which involves work and friends and sleeping, so writing ~5000 words of fic (as well as my other ongoing multichap) doesn't take priority a lot of the time.

but anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. i had to drag up memories of my high school hockey team in order to write the game. i suppose this was a jasper chapter ? with a little hint of percabeth (if any one caught the nod to pride and prejudice then kudos to you)

in case any one is wondering, i've made Gwen both gay and Welsh in this fic. because i wanted to and because Gwendolyn is a Welsh name as far as i'm concerned.

the chapter title is from The Twist by Frightened Rabbit

see you in two weeks cupcakes xx


	8. I'll come back, when you call me

_Saturday 19th December 2009_

Annabeth didn't understand why she was so nervous. This was hardly the first time she was performing in front of an audience, she'd been doing it since the age of eleven.

But tonight was different.

_Breathe_. _You'll do amazing, Chase. Stop thinking so much._ Jason's voice was so clear in her head that Annabeth reached blindly for his arm next to her. He could always dissolve whatever nerves she was feeling on the night.

But tonight her fingers grasped empty air and she was reminded abruptly of his absence.

Jason wasn't here. He was wrapped up in one of his father's pretentious parties with fellow executives and theirs sons who would inevitably inherit their kingdoms of wealth and greed. Not Jason though, he had no intention of following in his father's footsteps. Not, of course, that his father was aware of that.

But as she stood there alone, Annabeth wished he had openly defied his father so that he could be with her like he usually was. It felt so weird not to have her best friend at her side, whispering words of confidence and peeking through the curtains to comment on the audience. '_Never mind imagining them naked, some of these people look ridiculous. Have you seen what that woman in the third row is wearing?'_

_She would pinch his side as she looked through the gap. 'Okay, Perez Hilton. Can I have my best friend back now?'_

'_Perez Hilton is celebrity gossip.'_

_She'd side-eye him. 'You need to stop eavesdropping on WASP meetings.'_

'You ready, Annabeth?' her old music instructor asked, drawing Annabeth back to the present.

Annabeth blinked and tried for a smile. 'Yeah.'

She frowned a little but smiled back. 'Okay, honey. Curtain up in two.'

Annabeth nodded. 'Okay.'

As her instructor walked away, Annabeth lifted her hands to find that they were shaking a little. She huffed out a breath. _Get it together, Chase._

She walked towards the piano in the middle of the stage. She didn't look at the audience, what was the point when there were no familiar faces to see?

So she fixed her gaze on the music sheets propped in front of her and touched her fingers to the keys, feeling their coolness against her skin, and she played. And she was lost and found all at once. She knew this music, it sang in her very bones, it fell from her hands with ease. Annabeth had tried to explain this feeling to others and never quite succeeded. It was like she was simultaneously freed from the walls around her and grounded to the instrument she sat before. Forget the grades she strived to achieve and the extracurriculars she threw herself into which would always be tainted by the stern hand of her mother, this was _hers_.

After what seemed like only seconds, Annabeth was already playing the last notes.

The audience's applause rumbled in her ears as she stood up from the bench. And as she walked to the centre of the stage she allowed herself to wonder, just for a moment, if her father would be proud of her, if he was here to see her play. But he wasn't. The last time either of her parents had attended one of her recitals was when she was attending the academy.

So she took her bow for the audience and it was as she straightened up that she spotted someone out of place. He looked far too scruffy to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

But it couldn't be. He wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be seeing his favourite band perform live. He, Piper, and Leo had been going on about it for _weeks_.

Annabeth blinked a few times, but he was still there. Percy Jackson, giving her a standing ovation and pressing his thumb and forefinger between his lips to let out a loud whistle. He had the biggest smile on his face and Annabeth felt her smile become genuine as she looked at him. He was wearing black pants and a grey button down shirt, tucked in. She'd never seen him with his shirt tucked in. His hair though, was its usual mess.

As she left the stage, smiling at her music instructor as she complimented her performance, Annabeth thought back to her conversation with Piper a few days ago.

'_I can't get a read on him. Sometimes I think we can be friends, but then one of us will say something to piss the other off and we can't be in the same room and I… I don't know. I don't get him.'_

_Piper smiled that infuriating smug smile she did when she knew something you didn't. 'Well I do know him, Annabeth. I know he can be idiot sometimes, but he's a good person. And I know that you're important to him.'_

She hadn't really believed her at the time. But now... well now maybe she was starting to.

Because he was here. He had ditched the concert he'd bought tickets for six months ago to sit in an auditorium filled with strangers for two hours so that he could watch her play piano for four minutes.

Before she could overthink it, Annabeth was running down the steps and searching for Percy in the mass of people leaving the auditorium.

* * *

Percy pushed through the crowd, but there was only so much shoving you could do when you were surrounded by old ladies with walking sticks. How he had ended up in the middle of the OAP section, he had no idea. But he was seriously starting to consider shoving one of the half-deaf obnoxious women to the ground.

He was nearly at the exit when he heard her.

'Where d'you think you're going, Jackson?'

Percy's heart sank. _Game over_. He reluctantly turned and saw Annabeth standing to the side of the crowd; but her face wasn't gloating as he expected. She was blushing, timid. It was enough to get him to extricate himself from the elderly lady group and walk over to her. The girl he hadn't been able to stop thinking about since she saw him snort milk out of his nostrils. At least there was no milk in the equation now. But as he walked towards her, Chucks squeaking on the wooden floor, he felt more vulnerable before her than ever.

It didn't help that Annabeth was looking the way she was. Blonde hair pinned back, exposing her collarbones and long neck, dark green dress bringing out the brilliant sharp grey of her eyes. And then she smiled.

'I can't believe you're here,' she said a little breathlessly.

'Yeah, well…um. Jason said it was the first one he was missing so.'

'Oh,' she mumbled, dropping her gaze to her feet.

_Dammit, that sounded like I'm doing Jason a favour._ 'I mean, I wanted to come,' he said hurriedly, trying desperately not to trip over his words. 'I wanted to see you perform. I mean, you were crazy good up there.' He gestured to the stage. 'I've never heard anything like that.'

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. 'Didn't think this was your type of thing.'

'Yeah, well.' He lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck.

There was an awkward moment. He needed to say something, _anything_. He didn't want her to go yet. He wanted to do something other than scratch his neck and shift his weight and blink at her. He wanted to ask her to go somewhere with him.

And, as usual, Annabeth beat him to the punch.

'You want to go somewhere?'

'Huh?'

'You know, for a milkshake or something.' She blushed and he grinned.

'Sure, I know just the place.'

He waited for her to get her coat and tell her designated driver she would make her own way home. It was a Saturday, and the Academy was on the other side of East Summers to Moncada, so neither of them would be going back to school tonight.

Percy stood outside the large building, biting his thumb nail and wondering how many times he could embarrass himself in front her tonight. Maybe he would trip over his own feet again, or stall the car, or snort milkshake out of his nose, or choke on his own spit-

Percy's train of thought stopped as he spotted Annabeth leaving the building. She was tying a knot in the waistband of her long cream coat so that she looked like a detective out of a film… or a supermodel. Percy dropped his hand, wiping it on his pants and offered a meek smile.

'You ready?'

Annabeth nodded and he considered holding an arm out to her but worried she'd think it was far too cheesy. She didn't know his sense of humour like Piper did; she would just find it weird.

It was a cold night and the heating in the cranky old car was barely functional when Percy put the headlights on full beam. To her credit, Annabeth just raised her eyebrows and made no comment on the fact that the car sounded like it was about to collapse under them.

When they arrived at the Shack, breaths misting the air outside, Percy pulled open the door for Annabeth and followed her inside. The diner was a welcome warmth and Percy rubbed his goose-pebbled arms as they slipped into a booth. Annabeth's lips pinched into a smile as she removed her coat.

'Maybe we should get hot chocolates instead of milkshakes?'

It took him a moment to realise she was teasing him and it took him too long to respond coherently. The mischievous look in her eyes, the crooked shape of her mouth as she smiled at him took him off guard. All he could do was blink at her dumbly. _Nice move, Jackson_. He shook his head and called to Charlotte behind the bar for two hot chocolates. Percy stared at his own hands on the speckled table and attempted to collect his thoughts so as not to appear like even more of an idiot in front of this girl that he was rapidly falling so desperately head-over-heels for.

Oh boy, he was in trouble.

'So you spend a lot of time here then?' Annabeth asked with a smile. 'I mean, when you're not working of course.'

Percy shifted uncomfortably on the faux-leather booth, it squeaked underneath him. 'Yeah, s'pose I do. Or at least, I used to, before Moncada.' He looked up and saw her eyes bright with interest, and something there made him want to keep talking. 'We basically grew up here,' he said. 'We used to hang around the skate park as well, before any of us even laid hands on a board - we would just watch the older kids jumping around, ya know? And I just wanted to do it myself, we all did. But our 'rents couldn't spare the cash, so we managed to get work here as soon as we were old enough.'

'Which was two years ago, right?' she asked as their hot chocolates arrived. She thanked Charlotte as Percy pointedly ignored Charlotte's smirk.

'Yeah.' He laughed. 'You should have seen us when we first started. I was working for a year before the other two but they were still here all the time. Joe would yell at us at least twice a day. But we got the hang of it eventually. And soon enough, Leo was in the kitchen under Buff's orders. I swear those two come up with the weirdest creations. You should try their pineapple and pumpkin soup sometime.'

Annabeth pulled a face.

'It's really good,' he said.

'I'll take your word on that one.' She lifted her mug to her lips to hide a smile.

Percy smiled and looked away from her, at the steamed up window to his left. He lifted a hand to trace a smiley face onto the glass, watching as condensation dripped down, tugging the smile into a frown. When he looked back to Annabeth, her expression mimicked the drawing, but a laugh burst out of him before he could stop it.

'What?' she asked defensively.

He grinned and touched a finger to his top lip. 'You've got some cream...'

Annabeth's ears went to strawberry pink as she scrambled for a napkin to scrub the whipped cream off her face.

'Thanks,' she mumbled.

'Sure.'

And then something steeled him. Madness maybe, but he liked to think it was confidence. It tipped his body forward and lifted his arm and made his mouth speak.

'Here,' he murmured, 'you missed a spot.' Even though she hadn't.

Annabeth stilled as his thumb smoothed over the corner of her mouth. Her eyes closed and the moment held as he reached across the table and wanted to take her face between both hands and pull her to him.

His heart was pounding as he drew away from her instead and lifted his hot chocolate to take a sip.

Annabeth cleared her throat. 'Thanks.'

'No problem.'

As they finished their drinks, they talked about the gig, wondering aloud how Piper and Leo were enjoying themselves. Percy attempted to play down his skipping of the evening; _I don't even like them that much anyway, Once you've seen one punk rock band, you've seen them all_. But she didn't look convinced. And part of him was glad; part of him wanted her to know how much he wanted to see her perform, how amazed he was by her; by the quick movement of her hands over the keys, ringing out delicate melodies and powerful notes that raised goosebumps on his skin. By how at peace she looked, how at one with herself. Like she was the only person in the world and that music was the only thing that mattered.

He had never listened to that kind of music before, but when he watched her play, he felt like he could listen to it forever. Music had that sort of power over him, and he could see himself reflected in Annabeth as she sat at that piano. Sure, he didn't play an instrument himself, and god forbid he ever sang, but a day didn't go by when he didn't listen to music to zone out for a while.

Percy smiled to himself as he thought about this thing they almost had in common. Annabeth so often felt a world away from him, but this brought her a little closer to Earth.

When they finished their drinks, Percy paid and Annabeth pulled her coat on. They walked back out into the cold night and climbed into the car. Percy didn't bother with the heating this time, and he certainly didn't risk turning the radio on for fear the engine would give up completely. Annabeth's house was a fifteen minute drive from town and it passed all too quickly as they babbled on about school and their favourite bands and Percy expressed his horror at the fact that she had never been to a live show.

'You _have _to, it's like a right of passage.'

She laughed. 'Into what?'

He frowned. 'Just… _life_. I will take you to a concert before we graduate, I swear.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile. 'I'll hold you to that,' she said. 'Oh, turn left here.'

He turned onto the gravel tree-lined drive and swore. 'This place is bigger than Piper's.'

Annabeth's laugh was dry as he parked up in front of the gate and switched the engine off. 'Yeah. For all two of us,' she muttered.

He didn't know what to say to that. For the past two months they'd been friends, they hadn't really talked about their families. So she lived in a single parent household? He knew what that was like, but judging by her tone, her situation wasn't quite as easy as his. Percy had never missed his father. He'd had questions when he was younger, but how could he miss what he didn't know, right? His mom had always been enough, more than enough. And after the Gabe Ugliano stint, Percy was sure they were both better off without another guy around.

But Annabeth. What was her story? The way she frowned at the tall metal gates made Percy think she hated the place. It made him want to turn the car around and keep on driving.

Annabeth opened the passenger door.

Percy scrambled out after her. He wasn't really sure why - to walk her all of ten feet to the gate? Though there was a long stretch of gravel beyond it, should he walk her right to the door? But then how would he get out again? Maybe he could prop it open with something-

'So, thanks for the ride,' Annabeth said, pressing a button next to the gate.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. 'Yeah, no problem.'

There was a buzz as the gate unlocked and Annabeth pushed it open, holding it in place as she turned back to him.

'Thanks for coming tonight.'

'Don't worry about it,' he said, staring at his feet.

'Percy,' she said quietly and he saw her step towards him, as close as her hand on the gate allowed. He looked up from the ground and met her eyes. She was so close_._ '_Thank you_,' she said and he knew it was for more than the hot chocolate and the ride home.

'Yeah.' He half-smiled. 'Any time.'

Her smile was hesitant as she placed one hand on his chest and leaned up to him. Her cheek was cold and soft against his but her lips were warm as she pressed a kiss to his cheekbone.

'Good night,' she said as she drew away.

Percy swallowed. 'Yeah, g'night.'

She slipped through the gate and let it click shut behind her. The headlights of the car were still on and they illuminated her face briefly before she turned away and began walking down the path. Percy stood with his hands in his pockets, watching through the bars as Annabeth's figure slimmed to a narrow line as she approached her mansion of a house. Towards something he would never know or experience.

And it wasn't just the bars that separated him from her world; from the enormous house she lived in and the Ivy League colleges she would be applying for and the status of her family so far above his. Annabeth Chase lived a life a million miles away from his; even though they attended the same school now, he knew there were some things he would never have.

He backed away from the gates and climbed back into the car, trying to stop the shake of his hands as he drove home.

* * *

_Sunday 20th December 2009_

'For someone so organised, you leave your Christmas shopping awful late,' Jason said as they rode the escalator up to the third floor.

Annabeth looked at him. 'You know very well that all of my presents were bought and wrapped weeks ago. I just have a few bits and pieces to pick up.'

He grinned as they stepped off the escalator and gazed around at, well, Christmas. It was everywhere. And despite the fact that it had been everywhere since September, Jason hadn't quite become immune to it yet. He felt a grin seep across his face as Bing Crosby's slow voice filled his ears and Christmas lights twinkled around them, and the smell of pine - either from one of the fresh trees or the vast array of candles dotted around - filled his nose. He linked an arm through Annabeth's and tugged her closer.

'God, look at you all smiling and happy,' she said as she directed them towards the clothes section.

He jostled her. 'It's Christmas, Annabeth. We're supposed to be smiling and happy.'

She rolled her eyes and started looking at tree decorations. 'So how was last night?'

He held back a groan. 'Not so bad.'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him.

'Okay, it was awful, as always, and I didn't have my sidekick to save me.'

'I'm nobody's sidekick.' She was smiling, trying to tease a smile back out of him.

They had always attended these things together. Hiding behind their indifferent smiles and whispered mockery of the people exactly like them; privileged children set to inherit their parents' wealth without a clue about how the real world worked. Jason liked to think he and Annabeth were better than the rest of them because they mocked the world they lived in; they plotted their escape and promised they would find their own paths. But sometimes Jason wasn't sure he would ever be able to escape his father. And last night he had felt more exposed because Annabeth wasn't there.

'Hey,' Annabeth bumped his elbow with her knuckles, 'I'll be there next time.'

Jason blinked and shook his frown away. 'It wasn't that bad, I was just bored as hell.' He picked up a clear glass bauble with a wooden reindeer inside. 'So how did the recital go?'

For some reason, this made Annabeth's ears turn bright red. Jason put the decoration down and leaned forward, intrigued. 'What happened?' he asked with a grin.

Annabeth turned away from him, gritting her teeth and pretending to look interested in some miniature fake trees. 'Nothing. It was fine.'

'Annabeth,' he hedged, coming up beside her and blocking her way, 'what happened?'

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at his throat. 'Percy showed up,' she mumbled.

Jason stared at her. 'What?'

She huffed, looked up at him, and said again, 'Percy showed up.'

'I thought he had that concert last night.'

Annabeth shrugged past him and headed for the clothes section. 'I guess he skipped it.'

'You guess?' He followed her into the more crowded section of the store and tried to avoid being jostled by the frantic last minute shoppers hurrying around.

She stopped next to a rack of Christmas sweaters and stared him down. 'Yes, he skipped the concert, he saw me play, he bought me a hot chocolate and drove me home. The end.'

He bit back a smile. 'Okay,' he said.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him. 'That's it?'

He shrugged and slipped past her, feigning interest in one of the gaudy sweaters. 'You have a good time?'

'Yes,' she said slowly, cautious. 'It was nice to hang out with him.'

Jason was glad. He wasn't sure what the deal was with Percy and Annabeth. They liked each other - that was clear enough for anyone to see - but they bickered more than Ron and Hermione. He supposed that was sort of a good thing - they ended up together in the end, but it took a while; and he wasn't sure he wanted to play Harry's suffering role in that situation.

He side-eyed Annabeth as she pulled a thick winter scarf off the stand and rubbed it between her fingers. It was blue.

'That's nice,' he commented.

Annabeth looked at him. 'Yeah.'

'A present?'

'Maybe?'

He squinted at her. 'For Percy?'

Annabeth folded the scarf over her arm. 'Yeah, I was thinking of getting presents for the rest of the group.'

'Really?'

'Yes. I think it would be nice.'

Jason smiled. 'Okay. If I might make a suggestion, I'm sure Frank would love a bear onesie.'

Annabeth laughed. 'We should have done a Secret Santa.'

'Maybe next year.'

Annabeth smiled. 'Yeah.'

Jason liked the idea of still being friends with them this time next year. For so long it had been just he and Annabeth, having a group of friends was a different experience. Meal times were now spent at a crowded table in the cafeteria, bursting with laughter and shouts as they all clamoured over each other to tell bad jokes and complain about their classes. Frank and Hazel were the quietest of the group, but whenever either of the spoke, they managed to hold the group's attention. Jason wasn't sure how they did it; he was always being spoken over by others.

Since Halloween, they had all been hanging out a lot more, despite being in different grades and classes. They congregated together at lunch and dinner and often camped out in the rec room in the evenings or on weekends to power through homework together or watch a film. And this, Jason realised, was what boarding at school was supposed to be like. These were the benefits.

Annabeth's phone buzzed and she handed Jason the pile of presents they had yet to acquire a basket for to fish it out of her pocket. She snorted as she looked at the screen. It was the group chat Leo had made for them and Percy had sent a photo of Piper and Leo at the diner in elf costumes with the caption: _Look at these cheery fellows, happy to help :D Merry Christmas losers_.

Jason laughed. 'Wow. That's something.'

Annabeth chuckled. 'It certainly is. Come on, Grace, lets spread the holiday cheer.'

She clicked the camera icon and turned her phone around. Jason hid the pile of presents from view and grinned as Annabeth went up on her tiptoes to throw an arm around his shoulders.

She took the photo and wrote a caption to go with it: _Last minute Christmas shopping! Trying not to get trampled D: You guys look adorable!_

After she'd tucked her phone back into her pocket, she gave him a look. 'You know, you'd be able to be involved in the that too if you're phone wasn't from the nineties.'

He lifted his chin. 'There's nothing wrong with the nineties.'

She rolled her eyes. 'I can name plenty of things wrong with the nineties. She lifted her hand and started counting off fingers. 'Chokers, The Crystal Maze, Furbies, jelly shoes, Jinkos, U2-'

'You loved the Crystal Maze, don't even lie. And I don't hear Snake on that list.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She spent half her time on his phone trying to beat her own high score; though recently she had been knocked off the top spot by Leo who was - as of yet - the only person to challenge her. Jason knew she definitely wouldn't let him give up the old phone until she'd regained her title.

Jason wrapped the blue scarf around her neck and laughed as glared at him. He looped his arm through hers again and started singing, '_It's the most wonderful time of the year...'_

Annabeth groaned. 'If I hear that song _one more time_...'

* * *

A/N

okay, so some of you might recognise the first half of this chapter, and that would be because Mari and I co-wrote it around a year ago SO YOU GUYS ARE READING MARI'S WRITING WOOP. This was the first fic to be written for this au which is pretty exciting :) i did, however, have to edit the hell out of it to get it to fit with how the story is developing.

Christmas is officially coming guys. i'm sorry if any of you don't celebrate it or enjoy it but i LOVE Christmas :)

big shout out to my girl JANE, i.e. flyingcrowbar who has been harangued into being by beta and does a wonderful job of reining in my sentences and kicking me up the butt. she's just great and a wonderful writer herself (if you'e not already reading I Got a Boy, y'all need to be)

the chapter title is from Regina Spektor's The Call


	9. Have yourself a merry little Christmas

_Tuesday 22nd December 2009_

'There's no way that's true,' Frank said doubtfully, a forkful of rice hovering between plate and mouth.

Leo nodded emphatically. 'It is. Eating too many bananas can kill you!'

Piper rolled her eyes. '_Leo.'_

'Pipes, you were there when they took me to the hospital-'

'Wait,' Jason said, frowning, 'hospital?'

Percy was grinning at his friend when he interrupted Leo's likely elaborate re-telling of the tale. 'Dude, that was not because you ate too many bananas. That was because you tried eating the cellophane the damn things came in.'

The group broke into laughter as Leo tried to retain some of his dignity. 'No, dude! Bananas have loads of potassium in, ya know? That shit can stop your heart.'

Annabeth grinned at him over her food. 'Leo that's an urban myth.'

'Is not!'

She frowned. 'Is too.'

'Is not!'

'Is-'

'Okay, okay,' Piper interrupted, holding her hands up for peace. 'Quit it, you two.'

Annabeth conceded and took a bite of chicken, frowning in Leo's direction. Piper kicked her foot under the table and grinned. Annabeth gave her a withering stare and returned to her food, somewhat glumly, Piper noticed. Annabeth didn't like backing down from an argument, even one as petty as this.

'Okay,' Leo started again, with new vigour, 'but I know some guys from our old school who tried eating ten bananas in a row. They got to five before they were hospitalised.'

There was a general outcry around the table. 'That can't be true,' Frank mumbled through a mouth full of mashed potato.

'Yeah, that was a rumour, dude,' Percy said dismissively, picking at his food with his fingers. Piper resisted the urge to berate him for it.

'It was not!'

'Was too-'

Jason held his hands up. 'Not that again!'

Annabeth sat up, forgetting her food and leaning both elbows on the table. 'Leo, even if that story is a little bit true, it wouldn't have been the potassium. Your body wouldn't let you intake that much that it would affect your heart. It would have been an overload of sugar.'

The table was actually silent for a moment as all heads turned to Annabeth. She shovelled food into her mouth and looked around the table. 'What?'

'How do you know that?' Leo asked.

Annabeth shrugged. Jason leaned over her with a smile. 'Annabeth remembers random useless information. It's one of her insane genius things.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'I'm not a genius.'

From across the table, Percy snorted. 'Yes, you are.'

'Yeah, you kind of are,' Piper affirmed.

Annabeth's ears went pink and Piper made a mental note to compliment her genius over her looks. Or rather, she made a mental note to tell Percy this, as the two of them still seemed to be dead set on skipping circles around one another. Honestly, did she have to do _everything _around here?

'So anyway,' she said, taking advantage of the unusual quiet at the table, 'y'all are coming to mine Christmas Eve, right?'

They all nodded and made their confirmations. Annabeth nudged her foot under the table. 'Of course, I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to see your mansion.'

Percy snorted. 'You can talk, Miss _I live in a freaking castle_.'

'It's not _that_ big,' Annabeth insisted. 'I bet it's smaller than Piper's.'

'Dude, your mom owns a freaking empire.'

'You're dad is an A-list actor.'

Leo cut over her. 'Okay before we get into this twisted 'mine is smaller than yours' thing, we should, you know, not.'

'Seconded,' Jason said. 'What's everyone's plans for Christmas day anyway?'

'My dad's flying in the early hours Christmas morning,' Piper said, unable to stop her grin. 'So y'all better scram before midnight.'

Leo flicked a bit of potato at her. 'The usual Jackson-Valdez fandango for us.'

'Headed up to my grans for the holidays,' Frank offered. 'Which is why I can't make it to yours, Piper. Sorry.'

'Don't worry about it. When are you flying out?'

'I'm catching a bus into town straight after school tomorrow so that I can catch another bus to the airport.'

'Dude, I could drive you,' Percy offered.

Frank shook his head. 'Thanks, but don't worry about it. I already have my bus ticket.'

'Well, at least into town.'

'Yeah,' Hazel piped up. 'We can all come and wave you off.'

Funny, that was what made Frank smile and nod. 'Yeah, okay. Thanks guys.'

Leo slung an arm around his shoulder, having to practically stand up to do so. 'It'll be a bittersweet goodbye, Frankie.'

Frank extricated himself from Leo, looking thoroughly uncomfortable. 'Don't call me Frankie.'

Leo just grinned and pointed at Jason. 'What about you, bro? What are the plans for this most joyous and festive of days?'

'Dinner with the family.' He didn't expand and Piper guessed there was a reason. No one asked and she was sure he was grateful, but she didn't miss how Annabeth knocked her shoulder against his.

'And I would be ditto,' Annabeth said. 'Except I get to enjoy the delights of divorce and have two dinners.'

Leo shrugged. 'Eh, more food. No complaints.'

Piper panicked for a moment that he had overstepped, but Annabeth just rolled her eyes and took another bite of food. Piper figured she'd gotten used to taking things like that on the chin.

'What about you, Hazel?' Annabeth asked when she'd swallowed her ,mouthful. 'Any plans?'

Hazel got a little wide-eyed and looked down at her food.

'Oh, I-um... I'm boarding for the holidays.'

Out of all of them, Percy was the most horrified. 'You can't stay at school for Christmas!'

Hazel still wasn't looking up. 'It's fine, Gwen is staying too.'

'She's not going back to Wales?'

'No. And honestly, it's fine.'

'At least come to dinner,' Annabeth said. 'I've got two of them to make it through, you could keep me sane for at least one of them. And bring Gwen too.'

'Yeah, or if you want a less scary Holiday, you're welcome at the Jackson household,' Percy said, mouth full of potato and all. 'Mom always thinks we have a hundred people to feed.'

Hazel looked up at last and offered a small smile. 'Thanks guys. I'll think about it.'

'So.' Leo turned his attention to Piper. 'When are we decorating the castle?'

Piper snorted. 'Dad hired a bunch of people to do that weeks ago. Did you really think he'd leave it to us after the incident of '06?'

'Aw man!' Leo whined. 'I've been looking forward to it.'

'I don't remember it being that bad,' Percy protested.

'There was tinsel stuck in the chandeliers that took four men and a harness to get down.'

'Oh yeah,' Percy said, sounding wistful. 'The tinsel.'

'Chandeliers?' Hazel asked meekly.

'Told you,' Leo said. 'Mansion.'

'I do _not _live in a mansion.'

* * *

_Thursday 24th December 2009_

But mansion it was, even Annabeth - whose own house was gargantuan - could appreciate that. It was roughly the size on Moncada, including all of the outbuildings and the track. She wondered how such a landmark could exist on the outskirts of East Summers mostly unnoticed. But then again, the long drive reeling away from the road and the high professionally trimmed hedges did their job of hiding the place pretty well.

She parked the car at the end of the drive as Piper had instructed and climbed out, checking her watch as she shut the door. 'We're so late.'

Jason met her by the front of the car and hooked his arm through hers as they started down the long drive. 'We told her we would be. She'll understand.'

'Yeah. I just hope- woah. What the hell?'

They both stopped in their tracks as they stared up at the building looming before them, blistering with light and loud music booming from its crevices, and evidently full of people.

'Did Piper invite some more people?'

'Evidently,' Jason said, his voice wary.

Annabeth squeezed his tense arm. 'We should go in there. Make sure everything is okay.'

'Yeah.'

So they claimed the rest of the walk to the house with wary footsteps which crunched against the gravel drive and sounded too loud even in the midst of the noise from the house. When they reached the door - an obnoxiously large red thing with a decorated wreath - they bickered over who would knock and were half way through a rock paper scissors duel to decide when the door swung open. They both looked up and dropped their hands to their sides as the guy in the doorway squinted at them.

'Hey dudes!' He peered at Annabeth. 'Dudette.'

'Um, hi?'

The guy was wearing baggy jeans and a basketball shirt. In the hand he wasn't using to prop himself up, he held a red solo cup. Annabeth peered around him as he peered at her and took in the masses of people roaming around the house.

'Are you sure this is the right place?' she murmured.

But Jason was too busy staring red solo cup guy down to answer her - not that he would know any better than her. Neither of them had been to Piper's house before. Annabeth shared a bedroom with her; she had seen her in her underwear and had her hair braided by her and confessed that her favourite movie was not in fact, the Sopranos, but Bring It On. But she had never seen her house.

'What's your name?' the guy at the door slurred, still staring at her.

'Annabeth,' she answered as Jason's arm came around her shoulder. 'And this is Jason.'

He managed to straighten up. 'Your boyfriend.'

'Sure,' she said shortly. 'Where's Piper.'

He stepped away from the threshold and shrugged. 'In here somewhere.'

Jason and Annabeth walked in past him. 'Thanks for your help,' Jason muttered.

And then they were left standing in the lobby as solo cup closed the door and meandered back into the crowds, apparently forgetting what he had gone to open the door for in the first place.

Annabeth had never been to a high school party. the only parties she had attended had been ones hosted by her mother or the committee or herself. They had all been formal, she certainly hadn't worn jeans and a cream sweater. And there hadn't been a single red solo cup in sight. But here she was, in a midst of drunken underage kids, a few of whom she recognised from school, but mostly strangers. She leaned against Jason and wondered if they could leave without being noticed.

_What the hell was Piper playing at?_

'Woah, heads up!'

It was Jason who reacted first, pulling away from Annabeth to catch the object flying towards them - a football.

'Nice catch,' Percy said appreciatively as he loped towards them. Jason tossed the ball at him and he caught it neatly.

'Yo, Jackson! Ball.'

Percy half turned to the guy standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands out - ready to receive the ball. 'Nah, I think I'll hang onto it for a while.'

The guy scowled. 'Fuck you, Jackson.'

Percy turned back to them with raised eyebrows. 'Tetchy. Glad you guys could make it to our little gathering.'

Annabeth stared at him, wondering if this was some elaborate joke and he'd grin and say _Gotcha!_ any second. But no, he just ran a hand through his already ragged hair and sighed tiredly.

'So,' Jason ventured, 'small gathering, huh?'

Percy rolled his eyes. 'Who doesn't love a good high school party, huh?'

'Uh, right.' Jason shrugged out of his jacket and meeting Annabeth's eyes. In that one look, they agreed that they would stay, if only to help their friends get through the night. Annabeth pulled her coat off and handed it to him. 'Anywhere I can put these,' he asked Percy.

Percy nodded. 'Second floor, third door on the right - that's Piper's room - you can leave them in there. Oh, and put this there too will you?' He held up the football and Jason took it from him, knocking Annabeth's shoulder briefly before he made towards the stairs.

When he'd gone, Percy focused on Annabeth, offering a smile she was grateful for. 'You look nice.'

'Thank you.'

'Want a drink?'

The only alcohol Annabeth had ever consumed was a glass of champagne at one of her mother's events and some of her father's whiskey which has left her throat horribly dry. 'Um, no thanks.'

Percy smiled. 'We have water?'

She raised her eyebrows. 'Water would be great.'

He nodded and led the way. Annabeth kept up to him as he shouldered his way through groups of people toward the kitchen. There were a few people in there, leaning against counters with various drinks in their hands. Percy ignored the massive island crammed with alcoholic drinks and walked towards the fridge, fishing out two bottles of water and handing one to her.

'Thanks,' she said as he opened his and took a sip. 'Designated driver?' she asked of him.

Percy capped his bottle and leaned back against the fridge. 'I don't drink.'

She could see that there was a reason other than a solid moral compass behind that decision, but now didn't seem the time to pry. She found an empty bar stool and dragged it over to where Percy stood, pulling herself up onto it and crossing her legs. Despite his tired state, he looked nice; black skinny jeans and a checkered blue button down with the sleeves carelessly rolled up to his elbows.

'So,' she ventured, 'what happened?'

Percy's forehead puckered and he started picking at the wrapper of his bottle. 'You know Piper's dad is supposed to be flying in tomorrow?'

'He cancelled?' Annabeth guessed.

Percy nodded. 'Yep.'

'Poor Piper, she was looking forward to it so much.'

'Yeah.' Percy sounded drained. He let out a heavy cursed breath. 'It just pisses me off, ya know? I mean, my dad won't be winning a dad of the year award or anything but at least he's consistent - I know he's never gonna be here - but Piper's dad he… he messes her up. He's always making these promises and breaking them. Me, I would have given up a while back, but Piper always thinks the best of people. She wants him not to fuck up so bad that she gets her hopes up and-' He sighed. 'Sorry, you don't need to hear this.'

Annabeth shook her head. It was strange hearing Percy curse, but she admired how much he cared about his friend that he got this worked up. 'It's okay. Piper's my friend too, I know she deserves better.'

Percy took a sip of his drink and momentarily looked like he wished there was more than water in the bottle. 'Sorry, didn't mean to get all depressing. Let's talk about something else.'

'Where's Piper?'

'No, that's actually the same topic, Chase. I'll give you another shot.'

She scowled at him. 'Percy.'

He crossed his arms over his chest. 'She's fine. Leo and Hazel are watching her.'

'You needed a break?'

'She did, from me.'

'I don't understand?'

He rubbed his face. 'I wasn't all that supportive of the massive frat party and made the mistake of sounding like I knew what was best for her and she threw a shoe at my head.'

'What? Oh my god, are you okay?'

He raised his eyebrows. 'I'm fine. Pretty sharp reflexes.'

Annabeth couldn't understand how he was so calm about it. If Jason had done anything like that she'd be pissed - he was her best friend, but still. 'I can't believe she threw a shoe at you.'

One side of Percy's mouth lifted. 'Piper's not a pretty drunk.'

'I figured.'

Percy laughed this time. 'I'll go find her later. She just needs to get this out of her system, but she'll be okay.'

'I get the idea this isn't the first time she's thrown a rager.'

'Oh this house has seen a few of them. None this big though; we've never had two schools to invite before.'

Annabeth smiled at him. 'So do I get to meet any of your old classmates.'

'God, I hope not.'

Annabeth laughed.

'Oh by all means, laugh at my pain.'

'So dramatic.'

Annabeth marvelled at how easy it was to talk to him. And that was just Percy - easy. Everything he did was with lazy disconcern; he was the complete opposite of her in that sense. Annabeth had always craved organisation, she sorted her life into boxes and checklists that she could tick off when the job was done. But Percy didn't seem to fit into any of her boxes, no matter how hard she tried.

When the kitchen started to fill up with people starting a game of Beer Pong, Percy lead the way into one of the unoccupied lounges. This one, to Annabeth's surprise and delight, had a piano.

'Does Piper's dad play?' she asked, running her fingers over the glossy black wood.

'Nah. Just decoration, you know. Rich people like to show everyone that they're rich. No offence.'

She shot a half assed glare his way - trust him to ruin a moment - and sat down on the bench in front of the piano. 'None taken.'

Percy, oblivious, sat down next to her. Perhaps he didn't realise how small the bench was because his hip, leg, arm were now pressed right against hers and Percy's cheeks were brilliantly red. Annabeth bit her smile and fiddled with the cap of her now empty bottle.

'So, are you gonna play then?' Percy asked after a somewhat awkward moment. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him, turning her head just slightly towards him. He shrugged, 'No need to be shy. It's not like I haven't heard you before.'

She scoffed. 'I'm not nervous.'

He grinned. 'So play.'

This close up, Annabeth could see the freckles on his nose. The dimness of the room painted his eyes dark green though she knew they were usually much brighter. 'Why don't I teach you?' she asked.

Percy looked surprised. 'I'm tone deaf in every possible way.'

'It's just chopsticks. It's real simple, I promise.' She grinned at his discomfort. 'I'll show you first.'

She handed her empty bottle to him and tried to ignore the music resonating around the house and the noise of three hundred people yelling and singing and causing general chaos. She set her hands to the keys. She hadn't played chopsticks since she was about twelve years old, but the tune came easily to her. When she was done, Percy stared at her like she'd dropped out of space.

'You call that simple?'

'It is!' she insisted.

'For someone who's been playing the piano since they were ten, yeah.'

'Seven,' she corrected and Percy gaped at her.

'Jeez, so you were learning to play the piano when I was eating glue.'

'You still eat glue, Percy,' she said, remembering how he'd stuck his finger to his lip with superglue during one of their study sessions. How, Annabeth still has no idea. She'd turned her back for two minutes.

'Shut up and teach me something simple.'

She rolled her eyes at him and racked her brains. There was something her father had taught her once. Sat on his lap in the music room of the home she now shared with just her mother, his arms wrapping her up as he played the simple tune. She had giggled and begged him to teach her and he had. She wasn't even sure how old she'd been but she remembered the tune.

Annabeth lifted her hands to the keys again. 'Okay, pay attention.'

She played the tune through once and Percy paid rapt attention. When she was done, she clasped her hands together in her lap to stop them shaking. The memory of her father's warmth around her was too sharp in her mind, it threatened tears at her eyelids. She shook her head and turned to Percy.

'Ready?' she asked. He nodded, looking hilariously nervous, it pulled a laugh out of her. 'Give me your hands.

He did as she asked and she placed his fingers on the keys. His hands were much warmer than hers. She instructed him slowly, repeating the movements over and over again. Ten minutes later, he had it.

'Yes! I am the master of the piano!'

Annabeth laughed. 'Congratulations.'

She was considering kissing his cheek when someone called Percy's name. They both turned on the bench as Jason appeared in the doorway.

'There you are.' He sounded impatient and he was scowling.

Annabeth jumped up from the bench and crossed over to him, touching his arm gently. 'What's wrong?'

He was staring at Percy. 'You need to deal with Piper.'

That got Percy up. 'What happened?'

'Jason?' Annabeth asked, squeezing his arm and drawing his attention to her.

She had seen that look in his eyes too many times before. He was scared, terrified. She needed to get him out of here.

Annabeth turned to Percy. 'You can look after Piper. Get everyone out of the house, yeah?'

Percy scowled. 'Yeah, I can handle it.' He jerked his head a Jason. 'Is anyone with her or did you just leave her?'

A burst of anger flared in Annabeth's chest as Percy attacked her friend. 'Like _you _did?'

'She's in her room,' Jason said in a hard voice.

Annabeth spared Percy's scowling face one last look before grabbing Jason's arm more tightly and dragging him out of the house. Before she closed the door behind them, Annabeth heard the music switch off and Percy's voice yell over the complaining crowd.

'Show's over, folks! Go home!'

Jason's hand clamped around hers as they walked towards the car. They were both silent as they climbed into the car and Annabeth focused on keeping her hands steady on the wheel and her gaze on the road as Jason stared out of the dark window. She went on autopilot when he got like this; her first instinct was to get him out, get him away from the mess and let him heal first. Aware of the illegality of it, she pulled out her phone subtly to send a few text messages - all apologetic. And tried not to notice how much Jason's hands were shaking.

It wasn't until they were half way to her house that he spoke up.

'I shouldn't have left her,' he said, his voice a broken whisper. 'We need to go back.'

'I texted Leo, she's okay. We're going home Jason.'

He dropped his head into his hands, his next words came out muffled. 'I don't want to go there either.'

'I meant my home, Jase.'

He sat up, leaning back against the headrest and closing his eyes. 'Thank you,' he said quietly. 'Don't suppose I could get you to drive me back in the morning?'

She smiled. 'Am I your personal chauffeur now?'

But Jason wasn't quite ready for joking yet. 'I need to go back, Annabeth,' he said seriously. 'I need to explain to her.'

'Are you going to be able to do that?' she asked, putting weight into her words. This wouldn't be a simple apology.

He sighed. 'I really like her, Annabeth.'

'Yeah, I'd picked that much up myself.'

'Annabeth.'

The tone of his voice let her know how serious he was being now. She glanced at him.

'Level three?'

He nodded. 'Tragic backstory unlocked.'

Her eyes are back on the road. 'Jason, are you sure?'

'It's not something I should keep so locked up anyway. They're our friends now, and they deserve better than me keeping my secrets.'

'They're your secrets, Jason. They're yours to keep or share.'

'I know. That's why I'm choosing to share.'

'Okay.'

They were silent for the rest of the drive and Annabeth took the time to let his words settle. This was his secret to share, but he had only ever shared it with her and the hideous green monster on her shoulder didn't want him to share it with anyone else. This had always been theirs. They had dealt with it together.

But that wasn't fair. Of course it wasn't. Jason was right, they do have more friends now - good friends, who deserve to know the truth. And if Jason wants to tell Piper, then Annabeth will support that decision.

She pulled into the garage behind her house and shut the engine off but neither of them made to get out of the car.

Jason speaks first. 'I really like her, Annabeth.'

Annabeth looks at him, with his sad eyes and his tired face.

'She's way too good for me.'

'Jason-'

'She is, and she deserves so much better but I can't… I can't just let her go.'

'Jason,' she says more forcefully this time. 'You _are_ good enough. And you are not your dad, you won't ever be like him. You're a better person than that and you know yourself - you won't fuck up like him.'

He looked up at her. 'I think I already did.'

Annabeth shook her head at him. 'No. You freaked out, and that's okay.' She reached for his hand and squeezed it between her smaller ones. 'You'll fix this, Jason. That's the difference between you and your dad - you care enough to make it right.'

Something in Jason's face relaxes as he stares at her, holding onto her hands like she is his lifeline. He nodded and turned her hand to see her watch. A small smile tugged at his mouth.

'Merry Christmas, Annabeth.'

Another great start to the holiday.

She smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. 'Merry Christmas, Jase.'

* * *

A/N

okay i already wrote this once and it scrapped so now i'm bound to forget this because that's just my luck

ANYWAY this is a few days late, for which i apologise, but this week has been particularly busy and i didn't want to rush the chapter

i was so glad to get that group meal thing in at the start - i've been wanting to write a scene like that since mari and i started this fic. though it's kind of difficult to write because there are so many characters involved, but i hope i did okay with it

this chapter ended up a lot less resolved than originally intended and my gardener nature is to blame for that - i just got carried away so i had to end it early. BUT the next chapter will be more conclusive and will be going back through the party again in someone else's POV so a few more questions will be answered :)

the chapter title is an obvious one and slightly ironic. but there are a few different artists, i would recommend Judy Garland or Frank Sinatra

hopefully we'll be back on schedule in two weeks time. enjoy your December, whether you celebrate Christmas or not x


	10. My exhausted heart beats once again

And we're back! Sorry about the unexpected hiatus but things got a little hectic. Mari and I have decided to change the update day to Wednesday, but we're not sure as of yet whether updates will be weekly or fortnightly. I guess we'll just see how it goes.

The chapter title is from Forever by Girls Generation

know it's been a while, so here's a reminder. It's Christmas Eve and Piper has thrown a rager at her house which got a little out of hand...

* * *

_Thursday, 24th December 2009_

The first person she contacted was Drew Tanaka. Piper didn't have her phone number, so she messaged her on facebook and hoped to get a reply soon.

She was in luck.

Within an hour, her house was full of people. She actually knew most of them and recognised about seventy percent, but that didn't stop her from taking a bottle of rum from her father's liquor cabinet and locking herself in her bathroom. Okay, it wasn't the most mature thing to do, but right now, Piper didn't really care.

Percy was the first of her actual friends to arrive. He banged on the bathroom door until she opened it and glared at him.

"I don't know if you're aware, Piper, but your house is full of drunk teenagers."

Piper took a short swig of the rum and tried not to wince at the bitterness of the alcohol. She shouldered her way past him into her bedroom and propped herself up on her bed. "Everybody loves a party, right?"

She heard Percy's sigh as he crossed the room to sit next to her on the bed. "Your dad called?"

She glared morosely at the floor. "I'm that transparent, huh?"

Percy took the bottle from her and set it on the bedside table. "Are we gonna talk or do you need to work his out of your system for a bit first?"

Piper leaned over to snatched the bottle back. "What's there to talk about? My dad cancelled, I can have a massive party and face no consequences now."

"Pipes-"

"Just shut up, Percy."

He sighed and she could feel it coming, his patronising speech about how she didn't need her dad because his family and Leo's family was her family but she didn't care because she has a real goddamn family who was supposed to be here. She didn't care because she was tired of promises being broken and waiting for things which would never happen. She didn't want to be placated right now. She just wanted to forget why she was so angry.

"I'm just trying to help," he said, voice too gentle. She she didn't want gentle or placating or comforting. She just wanted to to get drunk.

"Well don't," she snapped, standing up.

"I'm not the one who bailed on you, Piper. Quit snapping at me."

That was when she threw her shoe at him.

It was a pretty dramatic response and she felt like a complete diva for it, but Piper was too pissed off to care at that point. He'd caught it anyway - the shoe - and tossed it in the direction of her walk-in wardrobe before she shoved him out of the room and slammed the door behind him for good measure.

And then she crossed back to her bed and sat with her head in her hands for a good ten minutes. When she could blink without crying and was sure Percy wasn't standing outside of her door, she snatched the bottle of rum up before leaving her room in search of some people who would just let her be drunk and stupid. She found them in one of the living rooms on the first floor, screaming along to that awful Journey song. And for a while, she danced and sang and drank; she found herself linked between Gwen and Lizzie Beckett, who she vaguely remembered having stuck bubble gum in her hair in eighth grade. But none of that mattered. It didn't matter that she only knew about two thirds of the people in her house and liked far less of them, it didn't matter that one kid was using her father's Oscar to make a fake acceptance speech and that someone had thrown up in a five thousand dollar vase.

It didn't matter, it didn't matter, it didn't matter.

All that mattered was the thrumming in her veins and the hoarseness of her throat and the fact that her house was full of people. Not empty and dark and silent, like it would be tomorrow. It was loud. Loud was good, loud was what she needed.

"Piper?"

She was standing on her father's mahogany table singing along to Abba when someone called her name over the crowd. She turned and looked down to see Jason standing still in the middle of the crowd of dancing teenagers. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans and he wore a Henley t-shirt the colour of Annabeth's eyes.

"HEY!" she yelled, probably too loudly and held her hands out to him. Jason obliged, lifting her down from the table and offering a small smile when she landed on her feet in front of him. "You made it," she said, rather breathlessly.

He looked up, around the room. "I see the guest list expanded a little."

"Who doesn't love a party?"

A guy next to them responded eagerly in Piper's ear but Jason just shrugged, hands back in his pockets. "I've never been to one," he said. "Not like this, anyway."

"Seriously? Do you want a drink?"

He shook his head. "No thanks."

"Not even a beer?" she hedged, nudging his chest with her knuckles.

"I'm good thanks."

Someone fell into Piper then, causing her in her already unbalanced state, to stumble into Jason. She turned, feeling Jason's hands holding her upright and frowned at the guilty culprit. "Dude!"

He holds his hands up. "Accident."

"I'll show you an accident-"

"Woah." Jason's hands tightened around her arms as he pulled her away. "Okay we should go." Piper let him lead her from the room even though part of her wanted to scramble against his grip and yell Lemme at him in her best Scrappy Doo voice.

Piper didn't notice that Jason's arm was still around her until they'd reached an empty room - which just happened to be her father's office.

"So, you're kind of aggressive when you're drunk."

"You sound like Leo," she muttered.

Jason raised his eyebrows. "Where is he anyway?"

Piper flopped onto the leather couch in front of the unlit fireplace. "Who knows. He was babysitting me earlier but I think he got bored."

The cushions jumped as Jason sat down on the other end of the couch and Piper sat up properly to get a good look at him.

"Did Annabeth come with you?"

Jason nodded. "She's with Percy I think."

"Oh. Well, good for them." Her voice was a little too bitter at the mention of her best friend.

Jason looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I thought you were doing an Emma on them."

Piper was pretty sure that was a Jane Austen reference but she didn't want to voice it in case she was wrong - she had written that particular assignment whilst watching Clueless every night for two weeks, neglecting to actually finish the book and relying upon Wikipedia and Sally's love of Austen. She studied Jason sitting somewhat awkwardly on the edge of the couch, and realised that the boy she had an all consuming crush on was a massive nerd. And she was incredibly okay with this.

"I mean," Jason went on, "don't you want them to get together or something?"

Piper turned on the couch, tucking her feet on the cushions. "I do, I guess. I don't know. Do you want them to?"

He looked surprised by this question. "Yeah, I guess. Percy seems like a good guy."

"He is," Piper said automatically. As irritated as she was with him, some things wouldn't change. "I mean, he can be a complete idiot sometimes, but he always means well. And he likes her."

"And she, him." Jason nodded, staring into the empty fireplace opposite the couch.

Piper watched him in the dimness of the room; all sharp lines and dark shadows as his face set into a frown. And gods, he was gorgeous. It really hit her in that moment, everything about him was good. He went out of his way to help people and never complained about his own misfortunes, he was a loyal friend - he reminded Piper of Percy in that respect - but he needed to learn to take himself less seriously. There were so many things she liked about this boy, and so many things she had yet to learn.

He was still so much of a mystery.

"So," she said, poking his hip with her toe, "never been to a high school party, huh?"

He looked over at her, blinking as if drawn from a daydream. She could have sworn his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he looked at her. "No," he said eventually, "never had the opportunity, I guess."

"Oh, and why is that?"

He shrugged, looking away from her again. "Some kids at Moncada throw them, I guess. Those with houses in the area whose parents are away most of the time. They take advantage of an empty mansion."

"And that doesn't appeal to you?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Despite my charm and good looks, I don't actually get along with many people at school."

Piper choked a laugh at his words and he shot her a smile, bitten between his teeth and ducked to his chest.

"At least not the preppy assholes."

"And you exclude yourself from the group do you?"

"Definitely, I'm not preppy at all."

Piper snorted and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. Snorting was always something her mother berated for her as a child - on the rare occasions she was around to do so. _You'll never get a boyfriend sounding like a pig_, she'd say, tucking a strand of hair behind Piper's ear like she was being kind.

Piper had shrugged it off with rolled eyes and an _I don't care_, muttered under her breath. But there was only so much of that attitude she could present to her mother, so much denial she could put herself into. Because despite how fleeting her mother's presence has been, a needy part of Piper had always wanted whatever approval she could get from her mother. It was always hard fought for, what with her mother frowning at everything from Piper's ratty shoes to the fact that she worked in a diner - she had all the money in the world, why did she want to be a waitress?

Now that she thought about it, her mother would highly approve of Jason Grace. With his perfect GPA and his ironed jeans - which Piper thought was incredibly weird, but forgave him for - his good- well, everything. He was good, sweet, rich. Her mother would love that.

She watched his profile in the dim light of the room - straight nose, strong jaw, that little cut on his upper lip that she wanted to ask about but didn't - as he talked. What was he talking about? She was barely listening.

"... guess you could say Annabeth and I are one of them, but we've always avoided most of them."

"What makes you different from them?" she asks, genuinely curious.

Jason looks over at her, eyebrows raised like he's surprised by her question. "I- I don't know. Maybe I just like to think that I'm different from them."

Piper stood up, wobbling slightly, and crossed to her father's desk. She started fiddling with the locked drawers, speaking to Jason over the top of the desk. "And why is that?"

Jason frowned at her, opening his mouth and closing it again as he tilted his head to the side. "Do you always play the Devil's advocate?"

She wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Do you always avoid questions?"

He continued to frown at her. "What are you doing over there?"

Piper looked away from him, down at the lock she was trying to jimmy open with a letter opener form her father's desk. "My dad always keeps a bottle of…" She bit her lip and finally opened the draw. "Yes!" She withdrew her prize and set it on the desk for Jason to see. "This is a thirty year old bottle of single malt scotch whiskey which my father purchased for two thousand dollars."

Percy or Leo would have choked and stared at the thing like it was made of gold. Jason's eyebrows raised just a little as he glanced at the bottle, and then back at her face. "And you're going to drink it?"

She picked it up by its neck and walked around the desk. "Yes I am."

Jason stood up from the couch and followed her to the door. "What about your dad?"

"He's not here."

"Piper."

She opened the door, facing him. "Are you really going to tell me to stop?"

He actually reeled back a little at her words and the abruptly sharp tone of them, eyes blinking and breath dispelling over her face.

She turned away and started walking down the hall. After a few strides, he caught up to her. "Where are you going?"

"I have to mix this with water or it's gross."

He choked a laugh this time. "Only you would call two thousand dollar whiskey 'gross'."

He was joking, but his words irritated Piper. And she couldn't quite pinpoint why.

Why did he care about the damn whiskey? It was only whiskey. If or when her father found out she had taken it and thrown a massive party in his house, what would he do? Maybe he would yell at her down the phone, but she doubted it; maybe he'd get one of his assistants to do it. Maybe she'd have all privileges taken away, or he'd contact the principal and somehow persuade him to give Piper detention for the rest of her school career.

Maybe he would do something. She was sure it would feel better than this.

"Piper." Jason's hand caught her wrist, making her stop in her climb up the stairs. "I don't think…"

She looked at him. From where he stood, a few steps below her, she was taller than him. It was strange to see him at such an angle, he looked younger somehow, his eyes more innocent as they pleaded with her. "I think you've had enough."

She snatched the bottle to her chest, wanting this to stop. Why was he doing this? Why couldn't he just let her have fun?

"I'm fine," she said, and continued to clamber up the stairs.

She could have easily gone to the kitchen, but for some reason Piper decided to use her en suite bathroom to get water for her drink, picking up a an empty red solo cup on her way and tipping a considerable amount of whiskey into it.

"Piper-"

She turned on him. "Stop it. I'm fine."

"Are you?"

She stared at him, which was difficult as her feet wouldn't stay still and she kept needing to blink as her vision swayed. She braced a hand against the tiled wall and gulped in a breath. She was fine. Absolutely fine.

"Stop worrying about me, Jason. I just want to get drunk, there's nothing wrong with that. Just because you're an abstainer of all alcohol, doesn't mean I'm going to hell for drinking it."

His eyes pull wide and for a moment he looks terrified. He looks at her like she's a monster arisen from his worst nightmares. Piper steps back, away from him, and slips on the wet floor. Jason reaches for her, grabbing her elbow but she jerks away.

"Stop it! I said I'm fine!"

"Piper-"

"Just leave me alone!"

She barely raised her voice but she could have screamed at him for the reaction it evoked. He stumbled away from her, hands shaking, eyes wide. She frowned at him, clutching her bottle to her chest as she stepped forward.

"Look, I didn't mean-"

Jason's hands are up, and all of a sudden, Piper feels like a monster. He's backing away from her, fear evident in every feature, hands high in surrender. Because of her.

"I'll go," he says, quick and placating, "I'm going, it's okay."

She didn't understand what he was saying or why. But before she could ask, he was gone, scurrying away like a mouse to its hole, fearful of the large steps overhead.

"Wait," she said, to no one at all.

And when she stepped into the hall to find a cluster of strangers there, she suddenly found that she didn't want them there at all. She went back into her bedroom, shut the door, and climbed onto her bed.

And for the first time in a long time, Piper McLean cried.

It was another hour or so until Percy and Leo found her, curled up on her bed. The house had gone quiet which meant that they'd managed to clear the house, which meant that Jason had probably told them that she'd lost it and Percy had decided to take control of the situation.

And now they had come to find her.

They didn't say anything, they just climbed onto the bed next to her and wrapped their arms around her. And she was a Piper sandwich, a burrito of love, Leo called it. It was comforting, and it only made her cry more.

"We're here," they told her, "we're not going away, Pipes."

And she listened to them, she took their words in and breathed them deep, needing them to be true. All the while remembering that her own family, her flesh and blood, were so far away.

* * *

_Friday, 25th December 2009_

Annabeth had drool on her chin. Jason wondered how exactly she'd managed to get it on her chin as she slept. She was usually a very still sleeper, lying there like sleeping beauty with her hands folded on her stomach, but as they shared her queen size last night, she'd rolled over and smushed her face into her pillow, kicking him in the leg several times as she fidgeted about. If she wasn't his best friend, he'd have probably kicked her out of bed.

Well, it was her bed so he probably wouldn't have done quite that, but he'd been close to climbing out of bed and finding his usual refuge on the long couch in Annabeth's bedroom. But he'd spent most of the night lying awake, staring at the ceiling - on which the constellations were painted - and wondered at the catastrophic night he'd had.

He kept replaying it in his mind, attempting to poke in different ways he could have handled it. But everytime he saw Piper throw that bottle, scream at him to get out, get out, get out, all he saw was his mother. Her beautiful face contorted into fear, rage, loss. She was a stranger to him and yet the version of her Jason knew best. In his mind, Piper's dark hair and skin paled, her voice grew more hoarse, with older pain, it would tell him that he was the only thing keeping him going, tell him that he was her guardian angel, her only hope, her demise, the reason for her suffering.

It was strange, how quickly she changed her mind about him.

Annabeth groaned into her pillow.

"Morning, sunshine," he said.

She rolled over, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Jason suppressed a smile. "Ugh."

"How are you feeling today?"

She sat up, leaned over the side of the bed to pick up a sweater off the floor. "What time is it?" she asked, dragging the item of clothing over her head. "Did you sleep at all?"

"It's just gone eight."

"Ugh, i hate you."

He smiled at her. "Mornings are for waking."

"You're an ass. And you're avoiding the question."

"What question?"

She gave him a look.

Jason sighed. "Not really."

Annabeth threw the covers off and climbed out of bed - no matter how much she whined about being woken up in the morning, she was remarkably fast at actually waking up - she stretched her arms above her head, screeching like a cat. "If we're up we may as well get breakfast. And then you have to face the heat."

Jason buried his face in his hands and groaned.

* * *

"I maintain that pomegranates are disgusting."

"They're healthy," Annabeth countered as she switched the car engine off.

"Healthy doesn't equate tasty."

"Quit whining."

"I'm not whining. I should think this would be easier on a full stomach."

She turned in her seat and looked at him. "Jason Grace. You are my best friend, and you need to go in that house right now or I know you'll be beating yourself up about this forever. Also Piper's my roommate and I don't want to be a child of divorce… again."

He frowned at her. "That's not funny."

"Well, no. But it's true."

He closed his eyes and thumped his head against the headrest. "This is going to be hard."

She poked him in the ribs. "Yep. Go on."

He tilted his head and opened his eyes to look at her. "You're not coming in?"

"Nope. I think this is a you and Piper thing."

"What if Percy's still there?"

He noticed the twitch of her mouth as she pointedly stared ahead. "I think you can handle Jackson. He's smaller than you."

"Not exactly what I meant," he grumbled, but he was climbing out of the car as he did.

Annabeth had stopped the car at the end of the absurdly long drive, just outside the open gates, which meant that he had to make the long walk up to the house alone, thinking about what he could possibly say to Piper. He had told Annabeth that he wanted to explain everything to Piper - to everyone, eventually - but now that he was actually walking up to her house, where she wasn't waiting for him. As he reached the front door, he pictured her face, contorted with anger or disappointment or hurt, and he hesitated, hand half raised to knock. What if he couldn't explain things to her, what if she didn't let him? What if-?

His phone vibrated in his pocket, interrupting whatever thought was making itself known. He pulled it out and opened a message from Annabeth.

Don't be a pussy.

He turned around and glared in her direction. She was sitting in the car still, and put two thumbs up at him. Jason rolled his eyes and stuffed his phone back into his pocket, reaching up to press the doorbell before he could persuade himself otherwise. And he waited.

And waited.

He pressed it again, wondering if he could turn around and go, explaining later that he had come by the house and tried, but there was no answer. No, that would be cowardly and it wouldn't solve anything. Besides, Annabeth would kick his ass right back down the drive and break the door down if she had to.

Jason pressed his finger to the button again, tapping his foot on the floor and keeping his head down.

And then the door flew open, and standing there, in red pyjamas with wrenches scattered over them, was Leo. He was rubbing his face with the heel of his hand and blinking up at him like he'd just emerged from a dark cave.

"Jason, dude. What are you doin' here?"

"I- uh… wanted to see Piper."

Leo blinked, dropped his hand, and braced himself against the doorframe. "Right."

Jason scratched the back of his neck, feeling suddenly awkward in front of his roommate, with whom he usually had a good report. And who was currently blocking Jason's way into the house.

"So… can I come in?"

The space between Leo's eyebrows creased. "Uh, sure bro." He stepped aside to let Jason in. "Just… let me go get her up. Wait here, okay?"

So he did, standing in the empty foyer of the house, thinking up his first sentence to Piper. The place was a wreck, the floor and every surface he could see were covered in cups and bottles and odd items of clothing, which was slightly concerning. There were odd stains about the place and as he noticed the large tree tipping curiously to one side at the base of the twin, curving staircases, Jason couldn't imagine a place looking less Christmassy.

It took three and a half minutes for her to appear at the top of one of those staircases, descending like a princess in her pyjamas and her rat's nest hair and Jason's throat went dry at the sight of her. All of those pre-planned sentences flew right out of his mind as she approached him.

She was rubbing her tired face. Jason knew that she wasn't a morning person because he'd seen her in the mornings, slumped over a bowl of Trix and half paying attention to the conversation around her. But she looked worse for wear now, she looked exhausted, and pissed off and, well Jason knew he was part of the reason for that. Which meant that his chest was aching with anxiety and his stomach was doing somersaults because this girl before him had gunk in her eyes and sheet creases on her cheeks and still looked like a goddess.

"Hi," he ventured.

Percy appeared then, fully dressed with a jacket over his forearm. He jogged down the stairs with Leo in tow.

"We need to get back, mom's gonna kill me if i'm not there soon. Come by later yeah? When you're done."

He didn't look at Jason while he said all of this, instead leaning in and touching Piper's arm as he kissed her cheek. Piper gave him a small smile and rolled her eyes as Leo punched her shoulder lightly as he passed. And then Percy looked at Jason.

He didn't look mad, which was something, but he didn't look his usual happy-go-lucky self either. He handed over the jacket which had been folded over his arm. "You forgot this last night."

"Right." Jason took it from him, looked up at his face. "Look, man, I'm sorry-"

Percy chucked his shoulder. "No worries, man. You two talk it out."

And then they were alone.

Piper shuffled her bare feet on the tiled floor and kept her arms tucked around her torso. Her eyes wouldn't rise above Jason's stomach and he felt it clench with nerves.

"So," he said, "how're you feeling?"

She rubbed her face. "Like shit."

He choked a laugh and she finally - finally - looked up at his face. Her lips twitched into a small smile. "Listen," she said, "I'm sorry about last night-"

"What? No I'm sorry - I was an asshole for leaving you like that-"

"I shouldn't have yelled at you, you were just trying to help-"

"I just freaked out-"

"Jason." Her voice stopped his rambling and her eyes cut into him. Her small smile softened the blow. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

He released a sigh. "Yeah."

"Okay. I just need a massive glass of water and a few aspirin before I do anything else."

"Okay."

She smiled at him again and started walking through the trashed house. He followed, stuffing his hands into his pockets and trying really hard not to notice that Piper was wearing a tank top with no bra underneath and oh god, no one should look this good when they were massively hungover.

Mercifully, as they walked into the kitchen, Piper picked up a hoodie from the laundry hamper sitting in the corner of the room, and pulled it on. While she moved around the kitchen slowly, finding her painkillers and downing them with a few large gulps of water, Jason hovered next to the central island. Eventually, she returned to him and hopped up on the work surface opposite Jason, cradling her glass of water to her chest and sipping from it every now and then.

Jason tried not to stare at her as he thought of a way to broach the topic again.

"So," he says, "how's the hangover?"

"Uh, not great."

"Right, yeah. Stupid question."

Piper laughs softly, not teasing just… gently. It helps him relax, reminds him of her kindness, of how much he likes her and how he'd resolved himself to telling her the truth. "Listen," he said, "about last night - I can explain."

She shifts, dropping her gaze from his. "It's fine-"

"No, I want- I need to tell you something and it's… well, it's sort of a big deal for me because I don't tell people about it."

His words peak Piper's interest, causing her body to still and her eyes to settle on his face. He saw her sit up and pay attention, and knew that she realised the importance of this.

He dove straight in, unsure of how else to explain. "My mom used to be an actress," he said, "when my parents met she was this up and coming movie star. And sometimes I think that my father fell in love with the character he saw her play, and it was too late when he realised she wasn't that person in reality. But he kept trying to make her that person - and she did too. She keeps pushing herself into this role she thinks she's supposed to play for him but she can't-" He swallowed the lump in his throat. "She can't do it."

Piper was staring at him, mouth open just a little, brow creased with concern.

He looked at the glass in her hands. "So she drinks. For as long as I can remember she's drunk more than she can handle."

"What about your dad?" Piper asked, her voice a whisper.

"He doesn't care. As long as she doesn't embarrass herself in public." His own voice sounded bitter and he hated it. Wanted rid of it.

"Jason…"

He rubbed his face, only now realising his eyes were wet with tears, and shook it off. "Yeah, so I end up looking after her a lot and seeing you like that last night made me think of her and… and I freaked." He looked up at her. "I'm sorry."

She stared at him, lips parted just so, eyes blinking just enough to let him know she was holding back tears of her own. "I…" She swallowed, he watched as she bit her lip and jostled her knee and darted her gaze all over. "I'm so sorry, Jason."

He shook his head.

"No," she said, voice hardening. "Fuck. I should have thought-"

"Piper, you couldn't have known."

"But still."

He moved away from the island he'd been leaning against and took the two steps towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Piper, please. I didn't tell you this to make you feel guilty. I just wanted to be honest with you."

It took a minute of lip biting and fidgeting for her to meet his eyes. "Okay," she said. "Thank you, for telling me."

He nodded, sliding his hands up to her neck and rubbing his thumbs over the edge of her jaw. Her eyelids dropped slightly at his touch and Jason's heart hammered in response. The number of times he'd imagined being this close to her, holding her face between his hands and feeling her skin under his fingertips. And now he was here, pressed almost right against her, feeling her breath against his throat as he leaned closer and her chin tilted up.

Her lips were soft, tentatively pressing against his. Then she sighed and he felt the grin stretch across them, heard her glass clink as she put it down next her her, and gasped as her hands touched his stomach. Piper pushed herself up to him, teasing his lower lip between her teeth as his fingers curved to the slope of her neck and her hands clenched the fabric of his sweater and okay, Jason was pretty sure he'd never felt anything like this before.

He could count the number of times he'd kissed a girl on his hand, but all of them flew from his mind because this was Piper. Piper, whose laugh could fill a room and words could trip him up and send him sprawling, who was endlessly kind, who never saw her own beauty. Who kept giving everything of herself again and again, and so rarely was given.

Jason held her closer, wrapping one arm around her waist, hoping to convey how willing he was to give himself to her. He would give her the world, if he could. And as she pulled away, one hand holding the side of his neck, thumb tracing his skin, she looked up at him.

"You're welcome," he said.

Piper laughed, loud and free in the mess of an empty house.


	11. I am smiling, I think of you

_Tuesday, 29th December 2009_

"You aren't going to make me regret this are you?" Annabeth peered over the top of her menu at the couple.

Jason paused in the movement of draping his arm over the back of the booth in which he and Piper sat. As he dropped it into place, the gesture looked purposeful and just a little awkward - it was so new for him. Piper stuck her tongue out at Annabeth and reached up to hook her fingers through Jason's, tugging his arm onto her shoulders.

"Regret what?" Jason asked.

"This whole…" she gestured at them with her menu. "You two being a couple thing."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Because you're responsible for us becoming a couple?"

"Basically, yeah."

They both frowned at her skeptically. Oh lord, she was already receiving synchronised looks, finishing each other's sentences and giving smug couple advice was just around the corner. Annabeth put down her menu with a slap.

"Who was it that drove Mr Broody-Pants to your house on Christmas Day?"

"Mr Broody-Pants?" Jason echoed faintly, Piper's lips twitched.

"Who was it that's been pointing out each other's admirable qualities to one another for months?"

"Alright," Piper interrupted with a laugh. "We get it, you're a wonderful match-maker and we owe you big time. And we won't make you regret a thing, I swear."

Annabeth grinned at her friend. "For the record, I'm really happy for you both." She met Jason's eye and kicked his foot under the table. "Just don't be gross."

"Charming," he muttered Percy appeared at their table in his waiters uniform.

"Annabeth," he greeted with a tip of his head, he nodded at Piper and Jason. "Couple."

Piper screwed up the paper napkin she had been scribbling on and threw it at him. "Shut up, Percy."

The paper bounced off his shoulder and landed on the floor. He bent to scoop it up and tucked it into his pocket. "Public menace," he muttered, and pulled out his notepad. "What can I get for you fine people?"

"Pancakes with-" Piper started.

Percy cut her off, already scribbling things down on his notepad. "-banana and maple syrup, with a ginger iced tea," he recited, shaking his head. "Ya freak."

"Just because you don't like it..." Piper said in a haughty tone, grinning at him all the same. She nudged Jason. "What are you having?" she asked him.

"Um… black coffee and… I'll take a cream cheese bagel and some bacon, thanks."

"Got it," Percy said and turned to Annabeth, who was still consulting her menu.

She was sitting with a her legs tucked up and crossed on the seat of the booth, her back straight and her lips pursed as she surveyed her options. It was a strange menu, containing the usual food she'd expect in a diner - hamburgers, bagels, waffles - alongside some less conventional stuff - salmon pancakes, carrot and shrimp broth, leek risotto. She couldn't decide, there was just too much to choose from.

Finally, she laid the menu down on the table as looked up at Percy with a smile. "Surprise me," she said.

His eyebrows tugged up his forehead, disappearing behind his dark bangs. "Really?"

She nodded. "Really, really."

"Alright." A grin shaped his face. He threw them a mock salute. "Ladies, bro." And he walked off.

Annabeth turned back to a pair of raised eyebrows. "What?"

Piper's lips twitched again but she looked down, dragging Jason's paper napkin towards herself to start doodling on. "So, any plans for New Years?" she asked.

Annabeth allowed the change of topic. "My mom throws a big thing every year which Jason and I are obliged to attend."

"I would extend the invitation,"Jason told Piper, "but I don't want to subject you to that just yet."

Piper nodded her understanding but tucked her lip between her teeth as she looked down at her doodle. Annabeth wanted to reassure her that Jason really was trying to protect her, and that he wasn't ashamed of her. That was something she and Jason needed to work out themselves. Annabeth couldn't go meddling in their relationship.

Jason, however, was too busy looking at whoever had just entered the diner to notice this. Annabeth looked up as Hazel reached their table, and shuffled across the faux leather booth to make room.

"Hey," she said as she sat down. Annabeth grinned as she started removing her gloves, scarf, and jacket. "Cold out?" she asked.

Hazel nodded vehemently. "Freezing."

"Says the girl from Alaska," Piper said. "Shouldn't you be immune to all of this?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I'm from New Orleans. I only lived in Alaska for a couple of years."

"YO HAZEL," Percy called from behind the bar. "What can I get ya?"

"Uhh. A hot chocolate with cream and hot bagels with butter, please."

"You got it."

Hazel turned back to the table. "So, what were you guys talking about?"

"We were just discussing New Years," Jason told her.

"Oh. Do people have plans?"

Piper spoke up, "These two have their rich people party-"

"Says the daughter of a millionaire," Annabeth muttered.

"-and I'm going to the Jackson's as usual," Piper finished, ignoring Annabeth and looking at Hazel. "You're welcome to join, if you don't have plans already."

"Oh… um."

"Don't worry," Piper said. "It won't be another rager. Percy's and Leo's moms will be there. We play board games and watch the fireworks in the town centre. Strictly P.C."

Hazel smiled. "Well, in that case, sure. I'd love to! Gwen is staying with her cousins until the end of break now, so I could use some company."

"Do we know when Frank gets back?" Jason asked.

"Percy said a few days before the semester starts," Piper said.

Percy appeared then, laiden with a tray of food. "Somebody say my name?" He started handing out the steaming, wonderful-smelling plates of food and the mix of drinks as Piper answered him.

"We were talking about Frank," Piper told him.

"Oh yeah, he texted me yesterday to say that his mom showed up on the doorstep on Christmas Day."

"Oh! That's so sweet!" Hazel gushed.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty happy about it." Percy straightened up and looked at Annabeth. She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting; she was now the only person at the table without a meal in front of her. "Strawberry milkshake," Percy said first, setting the drink down in front of her.

Annabeth worked hard to keep her expression neutral. Strawberry milkshake was her favourite drink when she was younger and she hadn't had it for years.

"And tomato fried donuts with crispy bacon."

She raised her eyebrows at the plate of food, deciding not to comment on the bizarre choice of food. "A little sweet for breakfast," she merely commented.

"They're savoury," he said defensively. "Leo's had a lot of compliments for them."

"Doesn't that make them bagels?"

"Just try one," he said, sounding close to exasperated. He glanced over his shoulder and Annabeth followed his gaze to see Leo leaning through the gap which divided the kitchen from the rest of the diner, his chefs hat placed jauntily on his head.

Annabeth grinned at him and picked up one of the bagels, and bit into it. Her teeth sank easily into the dough and... and it was delicious. Absolute culinary perfection. She swallowed her bite and bit back a moan of appreciation.

She looked up at him. "Not bad," she said.

Leo cheered loudly from the kitchen.

* * *

_Thursday 31st December 2009_

Annabeth appraised herself in the full length mirror of her bedroom. She wore a full length silver dress which reflected circles of light around the room as she twisted to pick up her earrings from the dressing table. She looked as she always did for these parties, which was well put together.

There was a knock at the door and Annabeth called for them to come in. She was shocked to see her mother standing in the doorway, wearing a knee length plum dress and looking positively regal.

"You look nice," she told Annabeth, glancing up at her face briefly.

Annabeth picked up her phone and her shawl from the end of her bed. "Thank you," she murmured, not quite meeting her mother's eyes as she crossed the room. "We should go, right?"

Her mother nodded. "Guests will be arriving shortly. I want you at the door greeting them."

Of course she did. She would want Annabeth to be the first face people saw as they walked into the house. Annabeth was well aware of the number of eligible bachelors on her mother's guest list. The idea of avoiding unwanted attention all night made her want to pull her sweatpants on and grab a tub of ice cream from the fridge. At least Jason would be here soon to save her. She didn't know how she'd make it through these things without him.

As it was, Jason was twenty-three minutes late. He half-jogged through the door and swept up to her immediately, grabbing her shoulders and kissing her cheek.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," he said, his face set seriously.

She rolled her eyes. "You're forgiven as long as you get up here and look pretty."

He smiled, releasing her shoulders and sticking his elbow out for her to hook her arm through as he stood next to her.

"How's it been?" he asked.

Annabeth bit back a groan as the next group of people waltzed through the door. "Kill me," she said through gritted teeth, feeling Jason chuckle at her side. "Hi," she said with a wide smile. "Welcome to the party."

"See you actually sound like you want to be here," Jason said when the husband, wife and miserable looking teenaged son had moved past them into the house. "I'm impressed," he said dryly, knowing full well how capable Annabeth was at putting a good face on after watching her do so for years.

She gave him a smarmy smile. "Years of practice my young padawan."

"A Star Wars reference. Really? I feel betrayed."

She frowned at him. "We've watched Star Wars."

"I know but... We're trekkies."

Annabeth grinned at the name and bumped her shoulder against his. "I know we are, but I'm broadening my horizons."

"With Star Wars?"

She shrugged. "Blame your girlfriend. She's taken it as her personal challenge to expand my movie knowledge. Apparently it was insufficient."

He laughed but it died a little too quickly. It made Annabeth frown up at him in curiosity. They were distracted, though, as the next couple walking through the door. Annabeth's heart lurched, it was the dean of Moncada, Mr D., and his wife. She wore a cream-coloured gown fashioned like those Annabeth had seen from a grecian mosaic in a museum. She smiled charmingly as Annabeth and Jason greeted them both into the house. Mr D., on the other hand, blew out his gut and frowned up at them both - for he was not gifted in the height department.

"Annabelle," he grunted. Then squinted at Jason and after a moment decided on, "Jeremy."

Annabeth cleared her throat. "It's Jason, sir. And my name is Annabeth."

"Mhmm. Where's your mother?"

"I think she's in the first reception room, sir."

He hummed and muttered something unintelligible before rumbling off into the house, his pretty wife smiling on his arm.

"Two years I've been at his school, I hardly fly under the radar, and he still calls me Annabelle," she muttered.

Jason nudged her in the ribs. "Don't take it personally, he actively knows no one's name."

She laughed softly. "I need a drink. Want one?"

"Tonic water, thanks."

"Sure."

She squeezed his elbow and walked further into the house towards the kitchen, past throngs of people in tuxedos and evening gowns. Annabeth was used to her house being full of well-dressed people carrying champagne flutes and talking about the economy like it made a difference to them, at this point it didn't really bother her. This house had long since been a home to her - Moncada was the closest thing she had to that now.

She was looking forward to going back. Just about the only thing she would miss when the semester started was the mornings she went to the diner for breakfast - which was basically every morning - and trying to guess what crazy creation Percy would bring out to her that day. She loved the bursting life of the place; loved hearing Leo holler from the kitchen that orders were ready; loved watching Percy and Piper serving customers with such confidence and ease. She loved sitting in the booth one her own, watching other people in the diner; or with Hazel and Jason, discussing what they should do with the last of their freedom before the beginning of the semester.

Without conscious effort, the diner had become a place for them all to hang out. Annabeth and Jason had always spent their breaks trying to escape their respective houses, and now they had a place to go. And there was never a dull moment with Piper, Percy and Leo around. Annabeth had walked in the other morning to find Piper standing on top of the bar singing along to The Boggs' "Wild Thing" into a spatula. She was actually pretty good, and received a standing ovation from the regulars as Jason helped her down and she curtseyed for them all.

Annabeth wished Jason had invited Piper tonight, she could only imagine what comments Piper would make at a party like this. They would spend the entire night in giggles. Annabeth loved Jason's company and she certainly knew she wouldn't make it through a night like this without him, but a big part of him looked up to these people and sought their respect. She understood, she even shared those feelings, but she thought she just might resent them a little more than Jason did. So much of his focus had always been on his mother - who fortunately had opted to stay in bed tonight - and protecting her from his father from his father. And his father was too preoccupied with his empire, and the affairs he thought were a secret to care much about Jason's activities.

Annabeth's mother on the other hand was far too perceptive about every aspect of Annabeth's life, from who she spoke to at these parties to her school career. Annabeth had fought so hard this year to choose her own electives. Albeit they were probably the same ones her mother would have chosen for her, but there was something so much more satisfying about picking them out herself.

"Annabeth?"

She looked up at the intruder of her thoughts and blinked at the young man standing before her. He was wearing a grey suit with a waistcoat underneath, his dark hair lay in tight curls close to his scalp, his skin was dark - one of the only not white people at the party - and he looked handsomely put together.

Annabeth cracked a grin. "David?"

He smiled at her warmly. "Hey."

She laughed and stepped forward, pulling him into a hug. "I didn't know you were coming tonight," she said, pulling away to look at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Doesn't know the guests to her own party? That's not very host-like of you, Annabeth."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, I'm failing in my duties."

"You've been without my guidance for too long," he said jokingly, but there was truth in his words.

She sighed dramatically. "Yes I have. I almost forgot that we go to the same school, you must be actively avoiding me."

"Oh psh." He grinned. "You want a drink?"

"I was just on my way to getting one."

"Ah." He held out his elbow to her. "Then may I escort you, my dear?"

"You may." She hooked her arm through his, allowing him to lead her through her own house towards the kitchen.

"So how is my girl?" David asked as they negotiated their way through the guests.

"Ah, I'm holding up. These things can be a pain, but I'm getting better at them."

David smiled at her graciously as they entered the empty kitchen. "I see you're no longer throwing vases across the room in protest."

Annabeth laughed and shoved him in protest. "I did not throw it and I was not protesting."

As he leaned against the centre island languidly, he shrugged one shoulder. "It was pretty dramatic."

"Like I need reminding, thanks! I was fourteen at the time, give a girl a break."

David held his hands up and backed down, grinning. "Sorry."

She opened a cupboard and pulled out a few glasses, settling them lightly on the counter. She walked past him to get to the fridge and tapped his cheek lightly. "That's alright, you've been teasing me since middle school so I'm used to it by now."

"And I do it with such grace, right."

"Mm."

She gave him a dry look but it was all understood between them. Their friendship had always been an easy back and forth - David's laid-back nature made it that way - despite the fact that he was her ex-boyfriend. They had dated for a blip when she was a freshman. The relationship effectively ended when it became clear that David was, in fact, gay.

She had thought it might make things awakward betweeen them, but David made that impossible. He went about the whole situation with such easy confidence that made her feel neither belittled or hurt. But, Annabeth thought, he had always been that way. He approached every aspect of his life calmly and wisely. He never rushed into any decision, he always kept his cool, which was something Annabeth had always admired. It wasn't easy for him a lot of the time, living with these pretentious people - he ticked one too many boxes for the WASPS of East Summers: black and gay.

It was fortunate, at least, that his parents had always been supportive of him.

"Speaking of grace," David said, continuing their conversation, "is Jason here?"

Annabeth carried the bottle of tonic water to where she had left the glasses, answering David as she moved. "Yeah he's holding up the fort at the front door."

"Ah, so you're on greetings duty, no wonder I missed you."

Annabeth twisted the cap off the tonic water and began pouring it. "What? Did you sneak in the back way?"

David laughed, accepting a glass from her with a nod of thanks. "Mom wanted to see the gardens so we were brought in through the conservatory."

Annabeth nodded, the gardens at night were illuminated with fairy lights scattered in the cherry trees and lanterns placed next to the paths. It was beautiful, she had to admit. But she would always sneak out there at night when she was younger, after the lights had been turned off, to lay on the grass and watch the stars, learning their constellations.

Annabeth looked over at David, leaning against the breakfast counter casually, and tilted her head. "So how have you been?"

He sighed, like he'd been answering this question a lot recently. "Pretty good. School is… well, you know." She nodded appreciatively. "College applications are in full swing."

"Oh jeez, where are you applying?"

"Harvard, Yale and Duke."

She frowned. "Yale, really? I thought Harvard was your one and only?"

He shrugged. "It still is, but Gramps wants me to broaden my horizons. It makes sense - I have to apply to more than one college anyway, so why not Yale?"

"Why not Yale, indeed?" Annabeth smiled and held up her glass to him. "They would be lucky to have you." He clinked his glass lightly to hers and the noise rang out for a moment. "Come on," she said. "I've abandoned Jason for long enough."

They made their way back through the house to him and Jason greeted David with far more enthusiasm than he had any of the other guests. Despite their two year age gap, the pair had always got on well. They could sit for hours playing chess or discussing the state of the economy and various other things which Annabeth only had a vague interest in. When she and David broke up, she thought Jason was only upset because he couldn't spend as much time with David anymore.

"How've you been?" Jason asked David warmly.

David smiled at him, the both of them stepping back as Annabeth greeted a few more guests into the house.

"Pretty good," she heard him reply as they stood behind her. "You know, I saw you a few weeks ago with this pretty brunette girl. Is there a story there?"

Ananbeth didn't have to be looking at Jason to know his cheeks had just bloomed with colour. "Where did you see me?"

"You were running around outside like a crazy person."

Jason barked a laugh. "You mean cross country? Where were you? Hiding in the bushes with a pair of binoculars?"

David joined in with his laughter. "You run past the history block, hot-shot. Mr Ashworth's class was getting a little tedious and you guys were providing could I pass that up?"

Annabeth waved the guests on in and joined the boys, hooking her arm through David's and grinning at Jason.

"Don't avoid the question, Jase," she said, watching his eyes narrow at her with glee. "Who was the girl?"

Jason groaned, long used to David and Ananbeth ganging up on him to tease him. He addressed David as he spoke, "That was Piper, and yes, she is my girlfriend now. I think - it's only been a week."

"Ah, it's only a label," David reassured him.

Jason smiled gratefully.

The three of them only stood there, chatting for another minute before Annabeth's mother found them and told them that they were relieved of their duty. Before Annabeth could sneak off with the boys, however, her mother looped her arm through hers and pulled her away from them.

"None of the young men here are going to come within ten feet of you if you spend the whole night with those two boys."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "That's sort of the point."

Her mother sighed through her nose. "These are the people you will end up working with, Annabeth, you should make an effort to know them."

"I do know them."

"Do you?"

Annabeth stopped, pulling her arm free sharply, and causing her mother to stop too. She glanced around them, mindful of the guests around them observing her daughter's small outburst, before fixing her steel grey eyes on Annabeth. Under her calm demeanour, Annabeth could see a storm brewing behind those eyes, but she spoke up anyway.

"Why does it matter how well I know these men? And don't say that I'll be working with them because you know I'm not stupid enough to believe that's your motive here. Why are you so intent on marrying me off like we're in a Jane Austen novel?"

"I don't want to marry you off, Annabeth. I just want you to have options."

"As long as those options are from the selected group you have picked out for me?"

Her mother's eyebrows arched delicately. Annabeth was known to speak out against her sometimes, but not usually as bluntly as this. Annabeth's hackles flattened and her gaze dropped, as it always did under that infallible gaze her mother gave her.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Annabeth asked, refusing to back down.

Her mother sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose like she was dealing with an incompetant employee. Eventually she looked up at Annabeth but chose not to answer her question.

"Just be civil for a short while, please," she said instead.

"I will if you will," Annabeth muttered.

Either her mother didn't hear her or she chose to ignore her remark. Her chin was held loftily again as she took Annabeth's elbow, pulling her forward again. And, feeling like she was being squashed like a bug beneath her mother's shoe, Annabeth let herself be led.

* * *

After Annabeth had been whisked off by her mother, Jason and David had found a corner of the living room to occupy. They sat in two deep, luxurious armchairs near the steadily burning fire with a low wooden table between them complete with an ornate marble chess set. They had played one game already and were setting the pieces back up for a second when Jason's phone bleeped with an incoming message.

"Sorry," he apologised, reaching into his pocket to retrieve the bulky device.

"No worries, man," David said, waving his hand dismissively and leaning back in the armchair across from Jason.

Jason smiled appreciatively and looked down at his Nokia, opening the text from Piper.

Half an hour left of 2009, hope you're spending the time well xx

He typed a quick response, not wanting to be too rude.

Wud rather b with u xxx

He tucked his phone into his pocket and looked up at David who was pursing his lips against a smile.

"What?" Jason asked.

"That your girlfriend?"

Jason's cheeks felt warm. "Yeah," he admitted, ducking his chin and feeling the grin creep across his face.

They'd been dating for a week and Jason still couldn't believe it. Piper McLean, gorgeous, smart, sweet, fierce Piper, was his girlfriend. He had sieved gold, won the jackpot, hit bullseye without even aiming. Everytime he saw her he felt like he was about to wake up from a dream. But each time, her hand tentatively reached for his and his heart settled, his grin took over his face and he leaned down to kiss her - still barely able to believe he was allowed to do such a thing.

"I'm surprised you're not with her tonight," David commented.

"Yeah, I thought about inviting her to this but… well we've only just started dating and…"

David nodded knowingly. "You wanted to ease her into the madness?"

Jason nodded, sighing. "Pretty much. And I always come to this with Annabeth, I couldn't bail on her."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Annabeth herself flopped down on the armrest of his chair, taking a long drink of the wine she was carrying. Jason frowned at her, Annabeth barely drank, especially when her mother was around.

"That bad?" he asked her.

She put the empty glass on the glass coffee table in between the armchairs Jason and David had occupied and slumped against him. Jason moved over on the chair and she slunk down into the gap, resting her head on his shoulder when he lifted his arm around her to make room.

"I feel like my mother's lap dog. She kept dragging me round and presenting me to people. Honestly, I feel like I'm up for auction."

"I would definitely bid for you," Jason said, causing Annabeth to grin at him.

This was why Jason could never abandon her at one of these events. She was always there for him and he was always there for her. It was how it had been for as long as he could remember. He was about to give her some consoling words when his phone buzzed again. He pulled it out of his pocket.

GOD you text like such an old man. I wish you were here too :( xxxx

Annabeth nudged him, lifting her head from his shoulder. "You should go."

Jason looked up to see her glancing at his phone, which he hastily shoved into his pocket.

"No, it's fine."

She raised her eyebrows at him, smirking a little. "Jason, if you don't kiss your girlfriend at midnight then I'm pretty sure you'll regret it for the rest of the year."

Her words were completely true but Jason still didn't move.

David spoke up. "You should start the year the way you want to spend the rest of it, right?"

Again, the words rang true. Jason dragged his bottom lip between his teeth as his phone vibrated in his pocket again.

"Go on," David said. "I'll look after this one." He nodded at Annabeth who rolled her eyes and all but shoved Jason out of the chair.

"Go," she said. "Please. And tell the others Happy New Year from me."

Jason felt as though he was being physically torn in both directions. Even though his best friend was pushing him towards his girlfriend, he still felt himself tied to her. Leaving Annabeth at this party would feel like he was abandoning her, after all the years they had suffered through them together.

But her eyes were steel grey and unwavering. There was no way in hell she was letting him stay. And okay, he didn't just want to go. He really, really wanted to go.

Finally resolved, Jason leaned down to kiss Annabeth's cheek. He straightened and shook David's outstretched hand.

"Good to see you, man. Take care of her."

Annabeth's scoff showed him out as he all but ran for the door. When he got outside, Jason was abruptly faced with a travel problem. That being that he had no form of travel.

He wasn't sixteen until June and there was no way he could get Annabeth to drive him - she definitely couldn't leave the party without her mother noticing - and there was no one else here he was willing to ask. Then something caught his eye; the end of the path which went down the side of the house to the garden shed, in which he knew there to be at least five bicycles. He ran down the path and stood in front of the locked side door, jiggling the ungiving handle for a few minutes before remembering the key hidden under the flowerpot around the corner.

The shed was only used by the hired gardener to store his tools, and where the bikes, which had gone unused for years, were stored. Jason pulled the least dusty looking one out from behind the sit-on lawnmower and inspected the tires, gear chains, and brakes. All was in working order and within minutes, he'd dragged the thing outside and was pedalling down the drive. Most likely looking like a madman in the process.

It was a ten minute drive from Annabeth's house into East Summers. Jason checked his watch in the darkness. The luminescent hands told him he had fifteen minutes to get there by bike. He swore under his breath and pedalled for his life.

He wasn't quite sure where the sudden burst of determination reach Piper for midnight had come from, but it thrummed in his veins, pushing his legs harder until his muscles burned and his lungs heaved. The distance seemed never ending as he pedaled through the darkness, the light on the front of his bike blinking white brightness in intervals across the empty road.

When the town of East Summers finally bloomed around him, Jason's shirt was sticking to his back with sweat. He raced down the street, searching frantically for the route he'd taken to Percy's house from the diner a few days ago. When the large white house came into view, Jason jumped off the bike and abandoned it on the front yard, checking his watch as he ran for the house.

The second hand ticked towards eight, dragging the minute hand to twelve to indicate that he had twenty seconds. Foolish hope and stubborn determination drove him up those stairs, panting all the way and he heard the voices counting down inside Percy's apartment before he reached the landing outside of his front door. He didn't bother knocking, instead falling into the door and finding it mercifully open.

The apartment was so crammed full of people that no one noticed Jason's entrance, they were too busy counting down.

"...Six, five, four..."

He searched the room, pushing past strangers and eventually his eyes settled on a crown of oddly braided brown hair. Her back was to him as she yelled the countdown along with Percy who spotted Jason and grinned, tapping Piper's arm.

She turned around and Jason's pounding heart skipped in his chest. He moved forward, reaching for her while he was still too far away and the crowd counted down.

"...three, two, one. Happy New Year!"

Piper's hands closed around his biceps and she went up on her tiptoes to meet his lips with her own, grinning into their kiss. Jason wrapped his arms around her as cheers erupted around them, celebrating the beginning of a new year.

He pulled away, breathing heavily. "Sorry, I smell," he said.

Piper laughed. "I don't care. You're here!"

He grinned at her, squeezing her waist. "I wanted to start the year how I intend to spend the rest of it."

Piper blushed and tucked her smile away with a bitten lip. "Very smooth, Grace."

She kissed him again, and Jason was certain beyond doubt that he'd made the right choice by coming here tonight.

* * *

Wow okay I'm sorry about the delay... again. And as for the update day, it seems I have no rhythm or rhyme about that either so again, I apologise.

As always, thanks for your patience, favourites and reviews. If you have any questions, you should direct them to my tumblr which is ananbeth

Shout out to Jane (flyingcrowbar) for suffering through being my beta, and Mari, who shares and continues to inspire this story.

(If you're a fan of The OC, the last scene will probably be familiar - I'm complete trash, I know)

The chapter title is from Dice by Finely Quaye


	12. Yesterday when you were young

_Thursday, 11th February, 2010_

Valentine's Day, Percy thought, was the weirdest holiday they'd come up with yet. He made his way from swim practice, hair still damp, and strongly smelling of chlorine, in somewhat of a daze as he stared at the hallway around him. With still four days until the dreaded day to go, Moncada was decked out in pink ribbons and red hearts and creepy little cherubs dangling from the ceiling with bows and gummy smiles. Whoever thought this would be cute was seriously deluded.

Percy said exactly this to Jason as they met up in the study hall. Jason laughed as they made their way to an empty table.

"I don't know," he said, still smiling, "it's not all that bad."

Percy threw himself into a hard wooden chair and groaned - both at Jason and the pain in his butt. "Yeah well since you spend most of your time making out with my best friend these days, I'm not all that surprised you're going along with all of this." He gestured around at the decorations which had managed to intrude the library. Then he looked back at Jason and jabbed a finger at him. "Wait you're on the committee thing. Dude, did you organise all of this?" He was smiling as he asked it, picturing Jason sitting crossed legged with his tongue poking out his mouth as he cut up little hearts and Cupid bows.

Jason laughed. "No chance."

"Bro, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

Jason threw a pencil at him. "Shut up. Lizbeth and her girls did all of this. They claim monopoly over this holiday every year. No one else is allowed to even touch a pink streamer."

Percy was still grinning. "Alright, I believe you."

"Thanks so much," Jason scoffed.

He pulled his text book out of his bag and Percy followed suit, not hugely looking forward to what followed. Being tutored by Jason wasn't all that bad. In fact, it was more enjoyable than Percy had thought it would be - Jason was a good guy, and pretty easy to get along with. Despite his outward stoism, he laughed a whole lot.

"How was swim practice?" Jason asked, apparently not quite ready to get into the studying part of the evening just yet.

"It was great actually. It's been a few weeks now so my stamina is coming back. Man, I didn't realise how unfit I was. I was nearly dying when I first got in the pool again."

Jason laughed. "You should come running with me to keep your fitness up."

Percy frowned at him. "Thought track season was over."

"Not quite. We've still got the rest of the month, along with hockey."

Oh, so he had a few more opportunities to watch Piper, Hazel and Annabeth run around a pitch with somewhat controlled aggression directed at a concrete ball and the other team's shins. Percy was glad, he looked forward to it.

"So what's your summer sport?" he asked Jason, supposing he kept up with a sport yet round though they'd never talked about it.

"I still run a few days a week. Tennis is a required one and I usually join the club too, baseball, soccer. Oh and I usually fence but I don't know if I will this year because my schedule is pretty full on."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Fencing? Like with the bee suit and the pointy stick?"

Jason looked like he was trying not to smile. "The épée, yes."

"Man, all we had back at East Summers was a basketball hoop."

Jason laughed. "Well, like I said, you can join me for track if you want. And I usually hit the gym on Tuesdays at lunch too."

"You got it. Who needs food? Oh wait, that would be me, like all the time."

Jason laughed. "Alright, enough procrastinating. We should work."

"What? Bro, I thought we were connecting. Don't ruin the moment."

Jason rolled his eyes and pushed Percy's textbook towards him. "I will not let you tarnish my reputation as a tutor."

Percy let up and opened his text book. Over the next hour, he found himself paying rapt attention to Jason as he tutored him through his English homework. When he first started being tutored by Jason at the beginning of the semester, things had been less comfortable between them - what with the drama at Piper's Christmas party.

Percy had been angry with him for upsetting Piper. He couldn't help it, he'd known Piper since Kindergarten, he was bound to be protective over her. But he was a pretty forgiving guy, Piper was the one who held grudges. Sure, if someone actually screwed one of his friends over, he wouldn't let it go easily - he was constantly getting in trouble in middle school whenever Piper or Leo were picked on. This was not one of those times though, Jason had freaked out, and Percy couldn't really blame him, especially after he'd told them all about his mom. He was a good person, certainly good enough for Piper. Though that didn't stop Percy giving him a don't-break-her-heart-or-I-will-hurt-you speech during their first tutoring session together, which Jason had managed to keep a straight face through then shake Percy's hand afterwards, telling him he had nothing to worry about.

And since then, everything had been fine between them, and Percy was glad to have another friend. Piper had been spending a lot more time with Annabeth lately, and Jason too, obviously. Leo had formed a fast friendship with Hazel and Frank as they were all had most of their classes together.

When Percy and Jason finally left the study hall at quarter past eight and walked back to the beta building together, night was falling around campus. Daylight clung on to the horizon in wisps of orange cloud, the sight reminded Percy of sitting on the porch swing around the back of his mom's house and listening to her stories about her day. It made him sad to think of her sitting there alone now that he was spending his evenings at Moncada, but he was going home this weekend. He had a shift tomorrow night - Friday - and was surprising his mom by staying in East Summers for the weekend. He couldn't wait to see her face when he showed up on the doorstep.

He said good night to Jason at his door and made his way up to the first floor to his own dorm. Percy was beat, he was grateful to find that Frank was not in a talkative mood so that he could fall straight into bed without interruption.

* * *

_Friday, 12th February, 2010_

It was a slow shift at the diner. Percy spent most of it wiping down tables and refilling the coffee cup of the old guy sitting at the bar bent over a battered copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_. Festy let him go at half nine, even though he should have been on until eleven, and Percy couldn't get out of there fast enough. It was a literal uphill journey to his mom's house so he left his skateboard strapped to the back of his backpack and walked there.

Winter was clinging on as the year moved into February which meant that Percy's coat barely kept him warm as he made the ten minute walk, he zipped it up to his chin and watched his breath fall out before him.

Percy bounded up the stairs to the top floor, pulling his keys out of his pocket so he could fit them straight into the door when he reached the top. He was already shrugging his backpack off as he stepped inside the apartment, his mouth stretching into a grin as he closed the door behind him quietly. He kicked his sneakers off and dropped his bag on the floor, walking down the hall towards the living room. He was about to call out to his mom when he heard voices.

Percy edged forwards, feeling like he was in a horror movie as he tiptoed down the hall, hearing the deep and strangely familiar voice of a man and the his mom's giggle. _Giggle_. What? Why was she giggling? Who the hell was making her giggle?

Percy had reached the end of the hall, he peered around the corner into the split living room and kitchen area where the round kitchen table was set up with candles and half cleared plates and roses and two people sat opposite one another holding up wine glasses to chink together. That was his mom, definitely. She looked different, she wore a red dress, her brown hair was loose around her face and she was glowing as she exchanged smiles with the man on the other side of the table. The man who was definitely familiar because Percy saw him almost every day at school.

"_Mr Blofis?" _Percy said in a disbelieving voice, unable to stop himself.

They both turned to look at him, his mother letting out a gasp. "Percy?"

He stared between them both as they stood up from the table. Mr Blofis - _his English teacher_ \- was wearing a tweed jacket and a concerned expression which made Percy want to hit him. Why was he standing there looking like Percy was about to burst into tears? He was his teacher, he should be looking at him like he's about to reprimand him, not like he was about to give him a fatherly pat on the head. His mom started towards him, her face falling from shocked to apologetic, but Percy was already backing away, bumping into the wall as he went.

"I gotta go," he said.

He all but ran back down the hallway, grabbing his bag and shoes off the floor and yanking the door open.

"Percy," his mom's voice rushed after him, "wait, please?"

He paused half way through the door, hand still on the doorknob, and looked up from the floor at her face. It was drawn with worry. She reached a hand out and touched his arm, like she might draw him back inside. She didn't though, she just rested it there, like she just wanted some contact with him. It had been a month since she'd dropped him off at Moncada for the start of the semester and in that time Percy had forgotten how her brown eyes could go wide and make him want to fold her into his arms. It had been the other way around for so long; he'd be woken up from nightmares and crawled into her bed as a six year old. He'd sit wrapped in her arms on the back porch swing and watch the sunset. He was a child seeking comfort from his mother.

He didn't know what he was now. But as she held his arm with one hand and stared up at him with those warm, brown eyes, Percy felt torn between hugging her and running in the opposite direction. So, like any responsible, mature person would do, he ran away.

Percy didn't pull his shoes back on until he was outside on the front yard. He pulled his skateboard from the straps of his backpack and kicked off down the street before his mom could come running out behind him. Though when he looked back over his shoulder, there was no sign of her.

Percy had taken the bus into town so he couldn't drive back to school. It would take him a couple of hours to walk it. He could call Annabeth and ask her to pick him up, but it was late and he could use the time alone to process what had just happened anyway. His mom was dating a teacher, _his_ teacher. That was… weird. Percy couldn't think of another way to describe it just yet.

An hour or so into his walk , his iPod died and his leg ached from pushing himself along on his skateboard. He resorted to walking down the dark road, feeling mildly weirded out and tired and annoyed. There were too many thoughts buzzing around in his head and he couldn't think straight. He pulled out his phone and flicked through his recent numbers. His first option was Piper, but he figured she would be too busy being happy for Sally to appreciate that he was so not okay with this. So Leo was the next choice. He'd probably still be up anyway.

He pressed call and held the phone up to his ear, grateful for the break in silence as the dial tone rang out. Leo picked up on the fifth ring.

"Bueno!" Leo always sounded like he had just done a bungee jump when he answered the phone - hopped up on adrenaline and sugar. Percy suspected it was actually the latter, Leo usually had a stockpile of candy when he stayed up late designing.

"Hey, man."

"Woah, who died?"

Percy sighed, rubbing his face with his hand and adjusting the phone against his ear. "Okay I'm gonna tell you something and you need to appreciate that I'm freaking out right now. I need sympathy, Valdez."

"I'll try my best."

Right. That meant he might not laugh at him.

"So, you know I was staying at my mom's this weekend?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I got home and found her in the middle of a date." Percy had learnt over the years that you had to get to the point with a story to keep Leo interested.

"What?! Miss J. on a date? That foxy lady!"

"Leo, I will hurt you."

He heard Leo cough and shift the phone around. He pictured the enormous cell phone pinned between Leo's shoulder and ear. "Alright, I'm sorry."

"And you haven't even heard the worst of it yet."

There was a thud as Leo presumably put down whatever tool he had been holding. "Pray, do tell."

"She was on a date with Mr Blofis."

A pause. "Wait. As in English teacher, Blofis. Your mom is dating _Blowfish?_"

"Dude," Percy groaned. "They are not dating."

"But you walked in on them having a date, right?"

Percy grunted.

"Right. And this probably isn't their first one and - oh hey, he was probably gonna spend the weekend, it's Valentine's day on Sunday. Speaking of which, I hope you've bought me something, or are at least gonna bake me something."

"Leo. They are not dating. There are not spending the weekend together. And I am not doing the Valentine's thing this year."

Leo sighed like he was speaking to a five year old who couldn't grasp a very simple concept. "Okay Perce, you stay in your little denial bubble I won't pop it for you, but you have to do the Valentine's thing. We've always done the Valentine's thing."

"Leo-"

"In Mexico, _my home country_." He started laying the accent on thick and Percy pictured him pressing a hand to his chest. "Valentine's day is called 'El Día del Amor y la Amistad'. And _amistad _means friendship, which means we do Valentine's Day."

"Leo, you're from Texas."

"Just bake me some cookies, dude."

* * *

_Saturday, 13th February, 2010_

Annabeth's throat burned as she gulped in the freezing morning air. She stood on the sidelines of the hockey pitch, listening to Caw give them a half-time pep talk. Their coach resembled a pitbull, leaning forward and barking directions and encouragement at their team. They were playing the girls from Trojan high school, who were usually a tough team to beat, but were playing exceptionally well today. The score was currently 0-0 and Annabeth was feeling immensely frustrated with the quality of their defense. Everytime she got close to their goal, she was blocked from every angle. They kept forcing her into a corner and stealing possession from her so that she was left sprinting back up the pitch after them.

"And for the love of god," Caw said, "_Use the wings_." She appraised her team with a tight frown and sighed. "Rest while you can, drink, stretch, don't sit still."

Annabeth grabbed her water bottle from her bag and took a long swig of it. She just wanted to lay down but Caw wouldn't allow it for a second, so instead she started doing lunges to keep herself moving.

"I'm beat," Piper muttered, joining Annabeth. "Tell my story after I'm gone."

"Damn," Annabeth said, "I was gonna ask you to give my eulogy."

Piper laughed. "Wow. Me over Jason? I'm honoured."

"Only because he'd be crying too much to speak."

"Right, of course."

Annabeth sat up and stood up slowly, rolling her shoulders once she was upright. She held a hand to Piper and hauled her upright.

"Ready for round two?" she asked, eyeing the Trojan girls getting riled up to start the second half.

"Ugh. Barely."

Annabeth grinned and called the rest of their teammates over. "Right, grab a partner and we'll do the sticks."

They all separated and stood face to face in their partners along the side of the pitch, bracing their hockey sticks on the ground between them. The sticks, simply named, was a warm up they'd started using a few games ago. It was less of a physical warm up and more of a mental one, a way of getting them feeling like a united team. On the count of three, they all hit their sticks against the ground and then against their partner's stick. Like the beginning of an ice hockey game. The effect was such that the clacks of their sticks came out as one sound.

It took them three attempts, but when they got it right the effect was awesome. They ran out onto the pitch feeling rejuvenated to the cheers of the crowd. Annabeth took her place in the centre of the pitch, despite it being the other team's ball to start she was grinning, feeling confidence in the team she had behind her. Trojan's centre forward had at least three inches on Annabeth and a mouth guard with a black section which made it look like she'd lost her two front teeth. Annabeth bent over her stick and watched the other girl's movements closely as they waited for the whistle to blow.

When it was blown, sharply by the referee to Annabeth's left, Mouthguard swung her stick up to hit the ball and Annabeth bolted forward, ready to intercept the ball the second it was hit. She thought Mouthguard might knock _her_ teeth out when Annabeth ran away with the ball. Her only problem now was that she was in the other half of the pitch with her own teammates far behind her and the entire Trojan team between her and the goal. Before she could panic though, a voice from her far right screamed, "Switch!"

Annabeth glanced up to track Piper's movements down the side of the pitch, her stick was low as she ran, ready for the ball. So Annabeth sailed it over to her, not waiting to see if Piper received it as she sprinted toward the goal. A few seconds later, Piper whacked the ball back to her and Annabeth moved quickly with her possession, drawing past one defender and then chipping the ball up slightly to the goal.

It sailed past the goalie and caught in the back of the net. Annabeth screamed her victory, thrusting her stick in the air as her teammates tackled her with hugs and cheers.

"It's not over yet!" Caw yelled from the sidelines. "Back into positions!"

She was right of course, the Trojans were already in position. Annabeth cursed and ran back up the pitch, barely in place and panting when the whistle blew. Her grin was wiped fully off her face when Mouthguard ducked right past her and she was left in the dust.

Annabeth slipped on the cold ground as she turned on the spot to chase her opponent down. Before she could reach her though, Hazel was there, neatly stealing the ball from the much taller girl and sliding it out to Gwen on the wing. And then they were in possession again.

The game was fast and manic after that. Annabeth's first goal had opened the floodgates for more to come, including ones scored by the other team. Her voice was raw from yelling by the time the final whistle blew but she still had enough left to muster a scream of celebration. They'd won, eight points to five. The first thing she registered was Piper's arms around her and her yelling in her ear, "I _love_ this game!"

Annabeth laughed as Piper let her go and she called to the rest of her teammates, "Guys, handshakes."

They shook hands with the other team. When Annabeth reached Mouthguard, the tall girl took the guard out of her mouth and smiled at her. She had straight, white teeth but one of the top middle ones had a tiny chip in it.

"Good game," she said.

Annabeth shook her hand. "And you."

She walked away and Annabeth was mobbed by her teammates. She looked around and saw Piper being lifted up by Jason, grins plastered across both of their faces. Annabeth smiled at the sight, but she felt a little loss as she stood alone. Jason always used to find her straight away after a match, but she couldn't feel resentful over it when she saw the glee on both of their faces.

Two arms wrapped around her then and she looked over her shoulder to see David's happy face. She twisted in his arms to hug him back.

"Congratulations!" he said loudly in her ear.

"I didn't know you were coming!"

He pulled out of their hug and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Well I don't have anything better to do on a Saturday morning."

"I'm flattered."

He grinned at her. "You were fierce out there. Remind me not to get on your bad side."

She punched his shoulder playfully. "You already knew that though right?"

"Sure." He nodded. "You've beaten me up enough times."

"Have not."

He raised his eyebrows and used his height to look down at her. "Sure," he said again. He gave her a good natured shove. "Go and join your crazy teammates, you big bully."

"Har har."

He grinned at her as she backed away from him and joining the other girls as they walked back to the changing rooms.

* * *

Annabeth lingered in the showers, staying long after her teammates had vacated the changing rooms and letting the hot water soothe her aching muscles. Oh, what she wouldn't do for a massage right now.

She eventually shut the water off and dried herself with a towel before changing into tracksuit pants and a hoodie. She hooked her bag with her uniform in over her shoulder along with her hockey stick and walked out of the changing rooms, heading straight for the pool where she knew Percy had training. They had a project due in for Monday which they'd done about half of and planned on finishing it off today.

Annabeth hadn't entered the _Thermae_ building, where the swimming pool was, since her freshman year, after which she had dropped it as a sport. Annabeth lingered outside, Percy said he would meet her after practice, which - according to her wach - finished ten minutes ago. He was probably changing, she reasoned, she should give him a little longer. The door opened then and she looked up, expecting him but instead was faced with a short, blonde boy she knew vaguely but couldn't give a name to.

"Oh." He paused halfway through the door, holding it open awkwardly. "You going in?"

"Uh, yeah." She smiled and stepped past him into the building.

It was bigger than she'd remembered. The voices and splashing water echoed loudly from the walls and arched ceiling and the smell of chlorine invaded her nose. Annabeth edged her way inside, wary that she was walking in on a practice, and stopped in her tracks when she saw a figure pulling himself out of the pool. His black hair was plastered to his forehead, dripping rivulets of water down his face , neck and chest and oh god. It was Percy.

Percy, wearing tight black jammers and nothing else. Annabeth had absolutely no idea he was hiding all of _that _underneath his school uniform and baggy sweatshirts, but his torso was all tan skin and tight muscle and Annabeth had never been that much into looks, but _damn_. Most unfortunately, Percy spotted her then, and cracked a smile as he pushed his hair off his forehead.

"Hi," he said, walking over to her.

Annabeth stood motionless. "Hey," she said when he was right in front of her, all dripping wet and half naked.

"Sorry, practice overran. I'm free now though, just give me five minutes to shower?"

"Uh huh. Sure."

He gave her another smile and sauntered off towards the changing rooms. Annabeth watched him go, staring at the muscles of his shoulders and back moving as he went and oh god, she needed help. She pulled out her cell and crossed over to the bleachers as she waited for her friend to pick up.

"Hey." Piper sounded slightly out of breath as she answered the phone but Annabeth was too preoccupied to ask why.

"Piper, I'm going to kill you." Annabeth sat down and glanced around herself self-consciously.

"Oh? And why's that?" Piper asked.

"I'm at the pool."

Piper sighed. "You're gonna kill me because you're at the pool?"

"Percy's here wearing those... short things."

"His jammers." She could hear the smile in Piper's voice. "Oh, Annabeth."

"_What?"_

"You think he's hot."

"What? No I'm not- I don't-"

"Oh, Annabeth, my sweet summer child."

"_Piper."_

"_Annabeth," _she returned, a smirk order in her voice.

"This is a serious issue."

Piper laughed. "You're freaking out because you were content with finding Percy irritating enough to not be attracted to him, but now that you've seen his hot body, you can't help yourself."

"I do not find him irritating."

"Interesting point to pick up on."

Annabeth groaned, dropping her forehead to her palm. "I am not attracted to him."

"Attracted to who?" A different voice said above Annabeth.

She looked up to see Percy standing there, fully dressed with a warm smile on his face. Annabeth hung up her phone without a goodbye to Piper and stood up.

"No one," she said as they started walking. "You were fast."

"Skipped the shower. Didn't want to keep you waiting."

"Oh, that's sweet of you."

Percy held the door open for her. "No biggie, I can shower later. So are we going to the library?"

They walked out into the winter sunshine side-by-side. Annabeth found it much easier to form full sentences now that Percy was wearing clothes. "No, I figured we'd go to my dorm to get my laptop."

"Awesome."

"So," Annabeth said, wary of being blunt and choosing to be so anyway, "what's the deal with your mom dating Mr Blofis?"

Percy choked, staring at her in alarm. "How do you know about that?"

Annabeth looked ahead. "Um… I heard about it through… the grapevine?"

"Piper told you."

She winced, glancing at him. "A little bit, yeah."

He threw his head back and groaned. "Great."

She grinned, enjoying his discomfort. "It's not that bad. So your mom is dating your teacher, it could be worse. She could be dating…um…" Her ability to form full sentences was failing her spectacularly today.

"You make a compelling point," Percy said, deadpan.

Annabeth laughed. "Come on, aren't you just happy for your mom? Mr Blofis seems like a good guy and he's pretty attractive."

"Enough." He said, half-laughing despite himself. He readjusted his bag on his shoulder. "So I haven't seen you at the diner for a while."

They'd reached the Alpha building and Annabeth pushed the door open with her shoulder, walking in backwards and raising her eyebrows at him. "Nice segue, very smooth."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Humour me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's not as easy to get there now that school has started again. I'll try to go this weekend though, are you working?"

"Yep, Saturday evening."

"You gonna stay at your mom's?" she hedged as they walked into the elevator.

"Um, no."

"Percy."

"Nope." He shook his head. "I'm gonna continue to avoid the situation like a mature adult."

They stepped out of the elevator and started down the hall to Annabeth's dorm.

"Anyway," Percy said, "you don't need to worry about that. You focus your energy on getting down to the diner and overtipping me."

The last comment caught her off guard, he'd said it so casually but there was weight in those words. She paused with her key in the door and stared up at him.

"I- what?"

Percy looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight as his cheeks burned and looked very much like he'd like to swallow his words back up. But he couldn't.

He mumbled, "You always give me really big tips."

"I give good tips for a good service." She smiled, trying to make a joke out of it but Percy still looked like he wanted to sink into the ground.

"You don't have to tip me twenty bucks for bringing you a burger."

"I-"

He shook his head. "Look, just forget about it. Let's go in, we've got work to do right?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, feeling her cheeks burn. She had never meant to offend Percy by giving him large tips. It's just something she always did, her mother threw money at her in the place of affection so she threw it at other people - people who needed it more than she did.

She unlocked the door, trying to think of a way to dissolve the tension but instead was presented with a huge distraction on Piper's bed.

"Oh my god!" she yelped.

Piper pulled her mouth away from Jason's with a smack and stared, wide-eyed at Annabeth. She was presently sitting in Jason's lap with her bent knees bracketing his hips as he leant back against her pillows.

"My eyes!" Percy protested.

Annabeth looked at Jason and briefly registered the horrified look on his face before slamming the door shut.

She and Percy faced each other, their faces a mirror of horrified shock. They'd just walked in on their respective best friends making out. They were fully clothed and Jason's hands had been firmly on Piper's hips rather than wandering, but _still_.

"I guess we're not finishing that project today," Percy said.

* * *

**A/N**

**So the timeline has slipped behind somewhat because my updating has been delayed but hopefully we're getting back on track**

**Tune in for more drama for Valentine's Day ;)**

**The chapter title is from Can't Turn Back Now by The Weepies**


	13. Love is coming to me

**Hey guys! It's Mariana here. I think this is the first time i've ever posted in this fic, I wanted to thank you for sticking with us for this long. I know it's been a long time since a chapter was updated but it's finally here! And i hope you guys enjoy it. Another thing I want to say is that during the long time we didn't upload, we got some not so nice reviews, and to be honest, they made us not want to update.**

**Hannah and I have lives outside this story, she has her personal life and work and I have my personal life and I am in my last year of med school. This is a collaboration between the two of us, that means we usually discuss the chapter and have a general idea of what's happening before Hannah writes it (because she's so amazing and she is the one who brings our ideas to life) but at the same time, we live in different continents with different time zones, she's my best friend, so most of the time we talk about our lives and not about the plot. I ask you to have patience with us, this story is our baby and it will be finished, but we need time.**

**Thank you so much for the nice reviews and the nice messages we get. It means the world to me (us).**

**A note from Hannah - thanks for sticking with us! We got a review commenting on the lack of continuity with regards to dates and you're totally right, I screwed up the dates. This story is currently set in 2010. I will go back through the other chapters when I can and correct that, sorry again!**

**And since it's been a while… Previously, on ACOS...**

* * *

_The last comment caught her off guard, he'd said it so casually but there was weight in those words. She paused with her key in the door and stared up at him._

_"I- what?"_

_Percy looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight as his cheeks burned and looked very much like he'd like to swallow his words back up. But he couldn't._

_He mumbled, "You always give me really big tips."_

_"I give good tips for a good service." She smiled, trying to make a joke out of it but Percy still looked like he wanted to sink into the ground._

_"You don't have to tip me twenty bucks for bringing you a burger."_

_"I-"_

_He shook his head. "Look, just forget about it. Let's go in, we've got work to do right?"_

_"Yeah," she said quietly, feeling her cheeks burn. She had never meant to offend Percy by giving him large tips. It's just something she always did, her mother threw money at her in the place of affection so she threw it at other people - people who needed it more than she did._

_She unlocked the door, trying to think of a way to dissolve the tension but instead was presented with a huge distraction on Piper's bed._

_"Oh my god!" she yelped._

_Piper pulled her mouth away from Jason's with a smack and stared, wide-eyed at Annabeth. She was presently sitting in Jason's lap with her bent knees bracketing his hips as he leant back against her pillows._

_"My eyes!" Percy protested._

_Annabeth looked at Jason and briefly registered the horrified look on his face before slamming the door shut._

_She and Percy faced each other, their faces a mirror of horrified shock. They'd just walked in on their respective best friends making out. They were fully clothed and Jason's hands had been firmly on Piper's hips rather than wandering, but still ._

_"I guess we're not finishing that project today," Percy said._

* * *

On Percy's list of things he wanted to do before he died, walking in on his friends making out was not high up there. In fact it wasn't there, period. It was so far from being on that list that he couldn't even see it.

Except he could, because it was burned onto his retinas.

Was he being dramatic? Maybe. But he felt like it was justified. Piper was basically his sister, and he did _not_ need to see his sister doing that.

"Well, that was unexpected." Annabeth sounded calm, and far less disturbed than he felt. "We should probably implement a sock on the door system."

"Dude! Necessary?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him. "Apparently it is, yes. Unless you want to walk in on more of that in the future?"

"No thank you."

The door opened then, revealing a slightly more put-together Piper and a blushing Jason standing just behind her.

"Um, hi," Piper said, just slightly out of breath.

Percy pulled a face.

Jason scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Sorry about, uh…that."

"As long as I never have to see it again, you're forgiven," Annabeth told him, walking past Piper as she stepped aside.

"Um, speak for yourself," Percy said, following her in and dropping his bag on the floor next to Annabeth's desk. He made to throw himself down on Piper's bed like he usually did before thinking better of it. "I'm a long way from forgiving that."

Piper threw one of her pillows at him. "Don't be a jerk."

He caught it and gave her a little smile to let her know that he was mostly just messing with her.

Jason watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. "So are we…cool?"

Percy threw the pillow at him and sat down on the edge of Annabeth's bed, only feeling slightly awkward about it. "Yeah, dude. We're cool."

"Good," Piper said, standing next to Jason. "Because we have a proposition for the both of you."

Percy caught Annabeth's eye, noticing the flare of panic there. "Oh-kay…"

"Do I need to sit for this?" Annabeth asked, her voice half-joking, but Piper nodded.

"You probably should."

Looking mildly alarmed, Annabeth took a seat on her bed, leaving a decent amount of space between herself and Percy, for which he was grateful and slightly regretful for. She clasped her fingers together over her skirt and stared at Piper and Jason. Percy followed suit, keeping his hands tucked a little awkwardly in the pockets of his jeans.

"Okay, so Valentine's Day is coming up," Piper started, shooting a glare Percy's way before he could even get a groan out. "And since Jason and I only just started dating, we didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

Jason was still hugging the pillow. When Piper glanced at him, he tossed it on the bed and reached for her hand. "Right, so we were wondering if you guys wanted to hang out."

A moment passed before Annabeth spoke up. "On Valentine's Day? You want to hang out with me and Percy?"

"Well that would definitely take the romance out of things," Percy said.

"Exactly!" Piper either didn't recognise Percy's dry tone or chose to ignore it. "Percy is the Valentine's Day Grinch and you two are basically our best friends. It totally makes sense!"

It sounded like a double date to Percy, but he wasn't about to voice that out loud. He looked over at Annabeth, who looked herself like she was trying to think of a valid objection to this plan.

Eventually, she sighed. "Well, depressingly, I have nothing better to do."

"Me neither," Percy said, sounding only slightly defeated to his own ears.

Piper actually hugged them both, leaving them awkwardly leaning together on the bed after she'd pulled away.

"Thank you guys, I love you both." She turned to Jason. "Jase, we should leave them to study."

"Right." He shot them both a grateful smile as Piper dragged him from the room. "See you later!"

The door slammed shut behind them and a moment passed before either of them said anything, the silence only filled by the sound of a quietly milling campus outside the cracked window.

"So…" Annabeth ventured.

Percy looked over at her, watching as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Afternoon sunlight drifted in through the windowpane, leaving Annabeth's golden hair shining in its wake and Percy tried hard not to stare.

"We should get on with it, right?" she said.

Percy blinked. "What?"

Annabeth gave him a funny look. "The project?"

"Oh. Yeah, no, totally. Project time, awesome."

She looked at him like he was speaking gibberish, which, to be fair, he was. Percy internally kicked himself as she stood up from the bed and crossed to her desk.

Oh yeah, this Valentine's Day hang was going to be a disaster.

* * *

_14__th__February 2010_

Jason's collar wouldn't lie flat. He glared at it in the mirror, as if it intentionally wanted to ruin his day by sticking up in that annoying little crinkled way.

"Dude, does this shirt look okay?" he asked Leo, who was sitting on the other side of his room at his desk, as usual.

Without looking up, Leo said, "Yeah, you look gorgeous."

"Leo."

"Uh huh."

"What colour shirt am I wearing?"

Leo lifted his head, not to turn around and actually look at Jason, just to squint at the pinboard above his desk which was covered in half drawn designs and flyers for the school cheerleading team. "Um, purple?"

"Dude!"

Leo shrugged and returned to his work. "What? You seem like a purple t-shirt kind of guy."

Before Jason could ask what that even meant, there was a knock at the door. He gave his collar one final tug and a glare in the mirror for good measure before crossing to open the door. Percy stood on the other side wearing black jeans and a grey sweatshirt; he was carrying a brown paper bag with grease marks around the bottom.

"Ready for our date?" he asked Jason with a sardonic smile.

"He's freaking out about his shirt collar," Leo said as Jason stepped aside to let Percy in.

Percy looked Jason over. "It looks fine."

"Forgive me if I don't trust your judgement."

Percy raised a hand to his chest and gave an expression of mock-hurt. "Harsh."

Jason punched his shoulder, causing Percy to grin at him and dodge out of his way as he crossed to Leo. He dropped the greasy bag on his desk, right on top of a bunch of designs. Leo didn't seem to care though; he abandoned whatever he'd been working on to peer into the bag.

"Dude!"

"Happy Valentine's," Percy muttered.

"Love you too," Leo sing-songed before stuffing a chocolate chip muffin in his mouth.

Percy rolled his eyes at Jason, who had been watching the interaction with some amusement. He picked up his wallet and dorm keys from his desk and tucked them into his pockets, following Percy to the door.

"Have fun on your date!" Leo shouted around a mouthful of muffin before Jason slammed the door on him.

He turned to Percy. "This isn't a date, right?"

"Piper called it a group hang."

"Oh god."

"Yeah." They started towards the stairwell. "Well, you're the one dating her."

Jason shoved his arm. "But it is a date, right?"

Percy opened the door to the stairwell. "It's...well, I mean for you and Piper it's a date. Annabeth and I are, um, your bodyguards?"

Jason laughed. "What are you guarding us against?"

"I don't know. Freak Valentine's Day attacks."

"You know that doesn't make sense, right?"

"_You _don't make sense."

Jason aimed a kick Percy's back as he jogged down the stairs.

* * *

Percy drove them into town, which meant that Piper sat shotgun and took control of the stereo while Jason and Annabeth took the backseat.

Annabeth was only feeling a little nervous about tonight. She wasn't really sure why as all she was doing was hanging out with her friends at the diner, but the dynamic this time felt different. Piper and Jason were _dating_ now, which meant that she and Percy were what, third and fourth wheels? It wasn't like the four of them couldn't hang out anymore; they still all sat together in the cafeteria and it never really felt awkward. Piper and Jason were two people who were very good at making people feel at ease, so together they managed to make it work.

But tonight was…different. Annabeth couldn't help but think that she was being set up on a double date despite the fact that she had told Jason and Piper multiple times that she and Percy were _just friends_, thank you very much.

Besides, she wasn't interested in dating this year. She knew that it was her senior year she should be worried about, but junior year was proving thus far to be challenging enough. She just didn't have the time or energy for that sort of thing.

"We need to get Leo to replace this piece of crap," Piper muttered, smacking the stereo and effectively jolting Annabeth from her reverie.

"Don't let him see you doing that," Percy warned.

Piper gave the stereo another smack and a radio station bubbled in tune, blasting out an unfamiliar song – to Annabeth at least. Piper and Percy immediately started humming and tapping along. Piper turned around in her seat.

"Do you know who this is?" She directed her question at Annabeth who shook her head, wincing slightly.

"Sorry?"

Piper laughed. "Why do you look so scared?"

"Because you're scary," Percy answered, and Annabeth caught his eyes in the mirror before he looked back at the road.

Piper sent a glare his way and Annabeth guessed that it was only because he was driving that she didn't punch him. She turned her attention back to Annabeth.

"This is _Arcade Fire_. We were listening to them the other day."

"Pipes, we listen to a lot of music," she objected.

"What I don't understand," Percy interjected, "is how someone who studies music doesn't know who _Arcade Fire _is."

Annabeth laughed. "We spend most of our time studying classical music."

Piper and Percy both groaned in despair, as if classical music had been created in the depths of hell as a form of torture. Annabeth caught Jason's eye and rolled her eyes. They had grown up in different worlds, this was just one of the differences in their friend group. Other than the classical music she studied and played, Annabeth simply didn't have an interest in music. She could happily listen to a song on the radio, though she preferred listening to _All Things Considered_ on NPR, and she enjoyed singing along with Piper to a Spice Girls song into a hairbrush as much as the next girl, but when it came to music in general, she just didn't care all that much.

Jason was much the same, although she usually found him listening to a movie soundtrack when he needed to focus on homework. And she did notice the effort he was making to show an interest in other types of music for Piper's sake, a quality Annabeth admired in her friend. But for the most part, they were equally clueless; a fact which made both Percy and Piper distraught.

By the time they pulled up to the diner, Piper had lectured them about the significance of the British punk rock movement until Annabeth thought her ears might bleed. She was grateful when Percy shut off the engine and climbed out, pulling his seat forwards for her and holding out his hand. Annabeth accepted his help as she clambered out of the three door car with what she hoped was a little dignity.

Percy raised his eyebrows at her. "Wow, I think you're the only person who can do that gracefully."

"Oh, thanks." Annabeth's ears felt hot, she was so grateful that she was wearing her hair down tonight to cover them.

Percy seemed to realise what he'd said a moment later and that he was still holding onto her hand. He dropped it, wiping his hand on his jeans and avoiding her eyes. "No worries. We should go- um, inside."

"Yeah. Inside would be great."

She followed him towards the diner, pointedly ignoring Piper's and Jason's stares as they followed. She felt them burning holes into her back as she walked in front of them and was determined not to give them the satisfaction of turning around. Piper would only smirk and tease her, and Jason would give her that questioning look which usually made her spill her guts to him. And the last thing she wanted to admit tonight was that she had a crush on Percy.

Wait. What?

Since when had she admitted that to herself? She was still keeping a distance between herself t and Percy, consciously so, because she couldn't get a handle on him. Annabeth prided herself on reading people, on knowing them before she knew them, but Percy was still somewhat of a mystery for her. He was a nice guy, he was kind and honest and generous with his friends. But he could be abrasive and rude and _grumpy_ sometimes, and she didn't know what to make of that; more so, she didn't know what mood to predict, and that made her uneasy about him. She never knew what Percy she was going to get each day.

But apparently he'd managed to burrow his way into her mind anyway, planting himself there with his cuteness and his sweetness, and maybe, just possibly, a little bit of his moodiness. And that...well, that terrified her.

As they entered the diner, Piper waved to the waitress behind the long bar and headed over to a booth at the end of the diner, near the jukebox humming a _Chuck Berry _song which Annabeth had learned to recognise from her time spent at the diner.

They all slid into the booth, Jason and Annabeth sat opposite each other next to the window. A decision Annabeth regretted as soon as Percy slid in next to her and she realised she was trapped in by him. She wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but the way he filled up the booth next to her, smelling like salty water and Old Spice, made Annabeth feel suddenly very hot. She glanced over at Jason who was giving her a funny look and stuck her tongue out at him before picking up her menu.

"See, this was such a good idea," Piper announced. "There's no pressure and we all get to hang out. Fun."

There was a beat of silence before Jason stepped in and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Well done, Pipes. It was a great idea."

It took a while for Annabeth to agree. Until they had ordered and cracked enough jokes between them to fill the awkward silence with laughter that reminded Annabeth of lunch in the cafeteria and sent her jittering nerves to the back of her mind. By the time they finished their food, she was almost glad that Piper had guilt-tripped her into this dinner. Right up until Piper and Jason ordered a milkshake to share and made lovesick eyes at each other as they sipped their straws.

Annabeth and Percy decided to get milkshakes not to share and watched their friends with mild disgust from across the table. Annabeth stirred her banana milkshake and looked over at him.

"So this wasn't too awful."

He cracked a smile. "It wasn't the trainwreck i expected it to be, true."

"Trainwreck? Geez thanks for the faith, Percy."

His smile widened at her dry tone. "Naw, it's not you. Mostly everything I do ends up a trainwreck."

"That's not true."

Percy raised his eyebrows and stipped his milkshake.

"I mean, I saw you skateboarding last week and you didn't wipe out for like fifteen minutes."

Percy laughed mid-slurp and ended up choking on his milkshake. Annabeth patted his back and tried not to laugh too hard when milkshake came out of his nose. She passed him a napkin which he took, not before sending her a glare for laughing.

"This is your fault," he mumbled a moment later.

She shrugged. "You're the trainwreck, here."

"Thanks," he choked, wiping his chin with the napkin.

Annabeth grinned and glanced up at Piper and Jason who were both staring at she and Percy with raised eyebrows. Annabeth threw a napkin at them and sent Jason a swift kick under the table when he responded with a wink.

"We should get the bill," she said.

"Oh hey, it's your first Valentine's Day," Percy said, "you shouldn't have to pay."

Piper's eyebrows shot up. "Has someone's heart grown three sizes?"

Percy tug his wallet out of his pocket. "Nope. Valentine's Day is still a sham."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Grinch. You're a hopeless romantic deep down inside. I know it."

"Sure."

"I will force it out of you, one day." She shuffled out of the booth. "I'm gonna go pee."

Jason followed. "Yeah, me too."

Annabeth waited for them to go before she pulled out her purse. "Hey, I'll get the check."

Percy continued pulling cash out of his wallet. "Nah, we can share it."

She put her hand on his. "No, I've got it. There's better things for you to spend your paycheck on."

He did look up at her then and Annabeth was taken aback by the way his expression had darkened from its earlier playfulness. His eyebrows were pinched together over his nose, casting his whole face into shadow.

"I can afford a meal at the diner, Annabeth."

"I know that," she said, feeling defensive at his tone. "Look, I'm just trying to do something nice."

He looked away from her. "Right."

She could tell he wanted her to leave it alone, but Annabeth wasn't one to back down. Nope, she was one to continue wading in and making everything ten times worse.

"Look. I know you get paid minimum wage and my mom throws money at me like it grows on trees so it doesn't even matter. You can save it for something you actually want to spend money on."

"Maybe I want to spend it on this."

"And I'm just saying you don't have to."

He looked at her then. "Annabeth, I'm not your charity case."

His tone caused her to flinch like she'd been slapped. "What?"

Percy shook his head, pulling cash out of his wallet and shuffling out of the booth. "Forget it," he muttered.

But Annabeth wouldn't. She threw down the rest of the check with a tip and followed Percy out of the diner. The door slammed shut behind her as she walked after Percy's retreating silhouette.

"What the hell was that?"

Percy stopped walking but remained facing away from her. From where she was standing, Annabeth could see the tension of his shoulders. He turned around slowly and his face was like stone.

"You don't get it, do you?"

"Apparently not," she fired back, feeling more and more frustrated with him and his short, vague statements.

He shook his head, like she was purposefully being difficult. That only made Annabeth more irritated.

"I'm not a charity case," he said. And it took Annabeth a minute to process his words.

"_What?"_

"Oh come on!" He threw his hands up in the air, disbelief mixing with anger in his expression. "You come into the diner every week and give me a twenty dollar tip for a three dollar meal. You hand out money like it's nothing when the rest of us have grown up saving every penny and you just- you just don't get it."

"Just because I grew up with money, doesn't mean my life is easy, Percy."

"Oh please! You've grown up with everything you've ever needed. You've gone to private school your whole life, you're a straight A student, and you think you're better because of it."

A bubble of anger had been building up in Annabeth's chest. Hearing Percy voice those words out-loud sent a wave of anxiety over her. She had grown up with a mother who valued intelligence over everything; over looks and money and kindness. Annabeth had earned her respect through good grades and extra achievements in school, intelligence didn't make her feel better than other people. It made her feel worthy.

"That's not true," she said. "You have no idea what my life is like, what my family is like. Don't you dare judge me."

"Because you don't judge me?"

"I don't-"

She was cut off as the door opened behind her and she turned to see Jason and Piper walking out. Their expressions quickly turning to confusion as they registered Percy and Annabeth's angry standoff.

"What's going on?" Jason asked, ever the mediator.

Percy had turned away, running his hands through his hair as he shook his head. Annabeth turned to explain.

"Nothing," she told them, but her face felt hot as tears prickled behind her eyes.

Jason stepped forwards, concern growing on his face as he recognised the tell-tale signs on his best friend's face. "Annabeth? What happened?"

She just shook her head, glancing over at Piper who was staring at Percy with a worried expression. Of course, Percy was her best friend. No matter how close she and Annabeth had gotten, Percy would always come first.

"I think I'm gonna go back to my mom's tonight," Annabeth told Jason.

Piper looked at her now, with panic in her eyes. _What happened?_ her expression asked, but she just bit her lip and nodded. "I'll sign you out on the register."

Annabeth managed a small smile. "Thank you."

Piper walked over and gave her arm a squeeze and exchanged a look with Jason. It went without question that Jason would go back with Annabeth and Piper with Percy. Annabeth was grateful to have such an understanding friend; Piper knew that Annabeth needed her best friend, and was willing to sacrifice her first Valentine's Day with her boyfriend. Annabeth wanted to hug her, but didn't for fear that she would actually burst into tears.

But Piper turned away without a word and jogged over to Percy and they were both lost to the darkness of the car park. Annabeth waited until she heard the engine of the car start up and drive away until it was out of earshot, and then she stepped forwards and pressed her face to Jason's neck. His arms came slowly around her, with their familiar warmth and comfort.

And then Annabeth let the tears fall.


	14. I'm diving underwater just to breathe

**hello all, thank you for the lovely response to our last update. it's so great to know that people still enjoy and follow this story... keep them coming and we'll keep the updates coming :)**

**we're both on tumblr if you have any questions ananbeth and percyyoulittlepumpkin**

**the chapter title is from Gabrielle Aplin's song, Sweet Nothing**

* * *

_Wednesday, 17th March, 2010._

Piper knew by the slam of his bag on the cafeteria table that it hadn't gone well. She picked up her overturned jello pot and looked over at Percy as he threw himself down in the seat opposite her. His hair was damp and falling into his eyes and his collar was sticking up. Piper reached over to flatten it down.

"How was practice?"

"Fine," Percy grunted.

"You're not eating?"

"Not hungry."

And that, more than anything, told Piper that he definitely wasn't okay.

"Percy..."

He looked up at her, scowl etched into his face as it permanently seemed to be these days. "My lab partner sucks."

It took piper a moment to remember that Percy wasn't referring to Annabeth, because Annabeth wasn't his lab partner any more. Piper had hoped that the fight between the two of them on Valentine's Day was a one off thing for which they would awkwardly apologise to each other the next day. But that would have been far too easy for Percy and Annabeth who, four weeks later, were still not speaking to each other.

Piper wasn't even sure if they were angry with one another any more or if things had just become too awkward between them for the gap to be bridged. It was easy enough for them to avoid each other too, what with Percy spending most of his free time in the pool and Annabeth hanging out with her friend, Dave or holing herself up in the library. The only time their paths had really crossed was in their Biology class, and Annabeth had swiftly removed that obstacle the week following Valentine's Day.

Piper had found out by way of Percy storming over to where she and Leo had been sitting in the skatepark and throwing his board down.

"She's switched lab partners!" he'd exclaimed in anger.

Piper sat up from her slouched position. "What?"

Percy started pacing and Piper knew then that things were bad. Percy became extra agitated when he was irritated. "I was all ready to go and apologise to her, even though it was her fault too, and I walk into class and Dr Bowman pulls me aside and tells me I have a different lab partner and that I need to move seats. Annabeth wouldn't even look at me. She's being so fucking petty, now I'm never talking to her again. And I'm definitely not apologising."

But Annabeth had not been being petty, she'd been hurt and angry and had acted before really thinking. Which was usually Percy's thing. When Piper had gone to her asking why she'd done it, Annabeth had explained that this would just make things less awkward, and that this way she and Percy wouldn't be forced to work together while they were angry with each other.

Piper wanted to smack their heads together.

Jason kept telling her to stay out of it and not meddle, that they just needed time. But Piper's patience was running out, and she missed her friends. Percy and Annabeth's fight had shifted the whole dynamic of the group, causing them all to spend less time with one another.

"At least it's Spring Break soon," Piper told Percy now. "One more week and the project is done, right?"

Percy grunted again.

She wished he would stop grunting.

"If we manage to finish it. I doubt we'll pass, Jeffords is a moron."

She sighed. "Just look forward to break. We'll be back in East Summers for two weeks, we can spend the whole time at the diner and in the skatepark. It's gonna be great."

Percy didn't look convinced. In fact, he looked a little guilty.

"What?" Piper asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't know if I'm going home over Spring Break."

"_What_?"

Percy glared at her and looked around them like her outburst might have caused the bustling cafeteria to drop everything and stare at the two of them. "I need to stay and practice in the pool."

Piper narrowed her eyes at him. "Bullshit. You still haven't made up with your mom, have you?"

Percy winced.

Piper threw her jell-o at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

He caught the jell-o but didn't start eating it like he usually would have done. "Just forget it."

"You just expect me to forget that my best friend isn't speaking to his mother? I was planning on staying at yours over break, you moron. Now I'm gonna have to put up with two weeks of Leo and Esperanza talking about cars."

Percy rolled his eyes. "My mom will still let you stay if I'm not there."

Of course she would, but that wasn't the point. Piper would be more than happy to stay at Leo's house, but she was trying to guilt trip Percy and it wasn't working. She wanted to press him on it, but Leo, Frank, and Hazel joined them at the table, effectively ceasing their conversation.

Piper would have been annoyed, but Percy's mood improved from there. And she herself became so caught up in the conversation and laughter that she forgot she needed to press Percy about the Sally issue.

She also didn't notice Annabeth walk into the cafeteria, spot their table and walk back out again without getting any food.

* * *

Annabeth was elbow deep in geometry when Piper walked into their dorm and fell down on her bed.

"How was cross country practice?" Annabeth asked without looking up.

Piper's response was muffled into her pillow. "Horrible. And I'm mad at you for abandoning me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and spun her chair around. "The student council meeting ran over," she explained.

Piper rolled over and propped her head up on her arm so that she could pull a face at Annabeth. "Gross."

"You think any extracurricular activity is gross."

"I'm not disagreeing with you."

Annabeth stood up and crossed over to Piper's bed, nudging her until she made room for Annabeth to flop down next to her. "And yet, your boyfriend and your roommate are two of the most actively involved students at Moncada. Congratulations, McLean."

Piper elbowed her. "Shut up. Being best friends with Percy and Leo balances it out a little."

Annabeth felt herself involuntarily stiffen. Piper must have felt it because she turned her head a little to look at her. Annabeth continued staring at the ceiling.

After a moment, Piper spoke again. "Mind you, I'm not talking to Percy at the moment."

Annabeth looked at her. "Why not?" she asked, voice tinged with panic. The last thing she wanted was for her feud with Percy to result in a divide between he and Piper.

But Piper was rolling her eyes. "The idiot's still not talking to his mom. I swear, I will beat him with his own skateboard one day. It might knock some of the stupidity out of him."

"He's not stupid."

Piper raised a questioning eyebrow and Annabeth felt her cheeks burn. She trained her attention on the ceiling again, following the lines in the paint with her eyes.

"No he's not," Piper said eventually, sounding something close to smug. "And I'm not really not talking to him. I'm just feeling frustrated."

"At Percy?" Annabeth asked, already knowing the answer.

Piper pursed her lips. "Yes, and also some other people...person. A person who's very intelligent but is being very dumb right now."

"I'm not being dumb!"

"I never said your name!"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, feeling her mouth tug up at the corner when Piper grinned at her innocently.

"But since you're feeling so supportive of Percy..." Piper started.

"I wouldn't say _supportive_."

Piper fidgeted. "Well, you might be feeling supportive of me. And, _and_, you owe me for bailing cross country practice."

"Piper, what are you up to?"

Piper was playing with the torn hem of her shirt, pulling a thread between her fingers and tugging it loose from the fabric. She was about to ask a favour, one which she didn't expect Annabeth to agree to.

"Well...There's this gala thing."

Annabeth sighed. "It wouldn't be a swim gala, would it?"

"Well, what would you know…"

Annabeth sat up and got off the bed, crossing back to her desk chair. "Nope."

"Oh come on, Annabeth! You owe me!"

"I absolutely do not. And there is no way I am going to support Percy when he's been such a...an ass."

There was a creak as Piper got up off the bed. "To be fair, so have you."

Annabeth spun around in her chair. "Have not!"

"Have too and you know it."

Piper had that satisfied look on her face and it made Annabeth want to throw something at her. She turned back around before she could become too tempted.

"I'm not going."

"Annabeth, I know you want to bridge the gap. Come on, be the bigger man. Take the high road, be the righteous dude."

"What?"

"I don't know, it was something Leo said."

Piper moved to wrap her arms around Annabeth and rested her chin on her shoulder.

"Please?" she asked into Annabeth's ear. "This could be the perfect way to dissolve all the tension. Plus, you get to see Percy in jammers."

Annabeth slapped Piper's arm. Piper just laughed and squeezed tighter.

"_Please?_" she asked. "For me?"

Annabeth let out a long sigh, wondering vaguely how Jason ever stood a chance when Piper wanted something.

"Fine," she said. "But I'm not waving a banner or anything."

* * *

_Saturday, 20th March 2010_

The banner was blue, with glitter on it and the words _Jackson for the win_ emblazoned across it. Annabeth wanted to strangle Piper. She was sandwiched between Frank and Jason however, which meant she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She sat in her seat with her arms crossed, scowling at the back of the plastic seat in front of her as her friends chatted excitedly.

Jason nudged her. "You could look a little less miserable."

She looked at him. "You're right, I probably could."

"Annabeth, come on. You didn't just come here to be a misery guts."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I came here because I was bribed."

He wrapped his arm around her and tugged her to his side. "If you really want to go, I can get you out of here," he said quietly, so the others couldn't hear.

Annabeth looked up at him and gave him a grateful smile. She shook her head. "No, you're right. I'm here, I'll stop being such an ass."

"Well, I didn't say _ass_…"

"You were thinking it though."

Piper leaned over Jason then. "What's this about asses?"

Annabeth nodded down at the pool. "We're about to see a bunch of them," she said, as a group of swimmers walked out from the changing rooms.

Piper grinned and Jason made a show of covering her eyes dramatically.

Without really meaning to, Annabeth scoured the students milling around below for Percy. She hadn't expected there to be so many people here. As involved with school activities as she was, she rarely attended sport events. The bleachers were full of both students and adults from Moncada as well as other schools in the district, and there had to be at least a hundred kids in tracksuits. Some sat on benches as their coaches riled them up, others wandered around stretching and shaking out their limbs. But Annabeth couldn't see Percy anywhere amongst them.

"He's there," Frank said into her ear.

Annabeth looked up at him in surprise before following the direction of his pointing finger. It took her another moment, but then she saw him, dressed in the purple and gold Moncada tracksuit with the hood up over his black hair. He was jumping up at down on the spot and swinging his arms around.

Annabeth, feeling Frank's eyes on her, averted her gaze back to her knees.

"I wasn't…"

"Okay," Frank said. And bless him, he didn't push it any further.

There was a lot of waiting around for races to be set up and swimmers organised. Annabeth cheered for any and all Moncada students, feeling a sense of school spirit as she shouted and clapped alongside her friends. Every now and then though, Annabeth would find herself following Percy's movements.

He'd swum twice now, and Annabeth had been captivated both times. It was incredible how graceful he became once he hit the water. Annabeth never thought she would use the word _graceful_ to describe Percy Jackson, who, when they first met, was laughing so hard that he snorted milk out of his nose. But he truly was amazing to watch. Every stroke cleanly sliced the water like a knife to warm butter, he dove into the pool like he belonged there.

Not to mention when he was out of the water; Annabeth had seen him up close and personal with water dripping down his chest over the soft lines of his stomach and disappearing into the dark material of his jammers. She couldn't see those details of him now, but she could picture them quite clearly in her mind as he pulled himself out of the pool and loped back to the bench.

But she was mad at him still. For the things he said to her, for how careless and bitter he had been since that night.

She was mad, but that didn't stop her cheering for him along with her friends, and it didn't stop her walking down from the bleachers with them afterwards to find him and congratulate him. Annabeth even felt excited, perhaps it was the shared exhilaration of the crowd, but she felt like this might be the chance to bridge this gap which had been created between them. One created through pride if not anything else. But she could congratulate him and maybe they could move past all of this. Maybe they could- wait...

Who was _that?_

As their group approached, Annabeth saw that Percy was not alone. There was a girl hugging him, with wild red hair and her arms around his neck. When she pulled away, Annabeth saw the smile on Percy's face and she felt her heart sink into her stomach. An uncomfortable feeling spread through her chest as she watched them together, laughing and...flirting?

Before Annabeth could think about it any more, she let the others walk past her and slipped away, making a quick exit before anyone could see her.

Irritation burned within her like acid in her throat. She had been miserable and guilt-ridden and ready to make amends with him because she'd assumed he'd been feeling the same way. But no, he was smiling and hugging with a girl who was clearly flirting with him and he seemed quite happy about that fact. _And who was she anyway?_

* * *

_Sunday, 21st March, 2010_

Piper loved surprises, especially ones from her boyfriend. Especially ones which involved him leading her blindfolded somewhere so that she had to cling onto his hand and be guided by his voice and a gentle hand on her waist.

"There's a ladder," he said quietly in her ear. "Are you alright to climb it?"

She laughed nervously. "As long as you catch me if I fall."

Jason kissed her cheek. "Always."

Piper felt her cheeks blush furiously. This boy was too good to be true. They'd become more comfortable around one another over the past few months, but Piper still couldn't help but feel intimidated by him. He was Jason Grace, prefect and all round model student, his family owned one of the biggest companies on the East Coast. And Jason was set to inherit that. What could be more intimidating than that?

"Careful," Jason told her as she blindly climbed the ladder.

"I'm fine," she assured him, gripping the cold metal. "I've done far more dangerous things than this."

From below her, Jason chuckled. "Somehow, I believe you."

When Piper reached the top of the ladder, she hesitantly climbed over the low brick wall it was attached to and found her balance on the loose gravel under her feet. Jason joined her a moment later, bringing his hand to her waist again.

"You okay?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yeah."

He guided her forward a few more steps before stopping her again and before she could ask, his hands moved to untie the material covering her eyes. It fell and Piper blinked at the scene before her.

There was a red plaid blanket spread out on the gravel floor, on top of it was a large wicker picnic basket. As Piper looked around, she realised that they were on the roof of one of the school buildings. The campus was partially illuminated and quiet in slumber. The rooftop was lit by a string of fairy lights hanging on the low wall near the blanket.

"Jason...I- This is..."

"Do you like it?" he asked softly, nervously.

She turned around and stared at him. "Are you kidding me? Jason..."

He raised his eyebrows hopefully and tucked his hands into his pockets as he shifted his weight awkwardly. He looked so nervous, Piper couldn't believe it. She was reminded of when he'd come over to her house on Christmas Day to apologise to her. He'd been inexplicably open and genuine with her. He'd told her something close to his heart and trusted her with it.

And now he had done all of this for her.

Piper grabbed the collar of his jacket and tugged him down to her, pressing her lips to his firmly. Perhaps a little too firmly as he let out a surprised noise. Piper eased back and kissed his lips more sweetly as Jason's arms came around her waist. After a moment, she drew away and rested her forehead against his.

"You're ridiculously awesome."

Jason's laugh came out in a puff against her nose. He hugged her closer.

"You like it?"

"So much. Thank you."

He grinned and released her, taking hold of her hand and leading her towards the picnic.

"This is incredible," Piper noted. "How did you do all of this?"

They made themselves comfortable on the blanket and Jason opened the basket, pulling out items of food one by one and spreading them out between them.

"I had some help from the committee."

She was staring at him in something close to awe. "You didn't have to do this."

He smiled. "I know, but I wanted to." He paused and looked up at her in earnest. "I know you've been having a pretty rough time over the past few weeks, what with Percy and Annabeth having their issues. And you've been such a good friend to both of them, Pipes, you deserve to have a break."

Her breath felt trapped in her chest. She shook her head.

"You're too good to me."

His face took a serious edge as he watched her and Piper had to duck her chin to avoid the intensity there. Sometimes it felt like too much, there was too much to keep up with Jason. He was perfect, and she was...well, she was just Piper. She may be the daughter of a movie star, but in all other aspects she was perfectly average. She worked in a diner and had two best friends and could do a few skateboard tricks; up until now that had been enough. She knew who she was and she was fine with that.

But now Jason was in the picture, Piper couldn't help but compare herself to him, and to see herself as inferior.

"Hey," Jason said quietly. He had moved closer and he lifted a hand to brush her hair out of her face. "You okay?"

She drew in a slow breath and nodded, trying to bring herself back to this moment with him and lose herself in it.

"I'm perfect," she said, feeling exactly the opposite.


End file.
